Google facing massive EU fine as it appeals search suit in US
The European Union is said to be looking to avoid a big fine, but that may require Google to agree to changes
Google could be facing a fine from the EU in the high hundreds of millions of euros, according to reports, following an investigation by the European regulator into its search.
The fine relates to a European Commission (EC) investigation into whether Google breached the Digital Markets Act by favouring its own search engine. Launched last year, the EC sent preliminary findings to the company, accusing it of preferential treatment of Google's own services in its search results, including shopping, hotels, finance, and more. Google was then given a chance to respond and suggest changes to address the problems.
A report in the German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that the EC is considering fines in the hundreds of millions of euros after failing to come to an agreed solution.
Next steps
However, an EC spokesperson told Reuters that the regulator was keen to get Google in line rather than issue a punitive fine, suggesting that the EC was more interested in securing compliance.
"Even with our negotiations on future solutions, we will not hesitate to move to the next steps as soon as possible," spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Reuters.
The EC earlier this month gave Google more time to develop a proposal after its previous efforts to avoid a fine failed to win over the regulator. But Google said in response to Reuters that it had already made too many changes to its search tool. ITPro contacted Google for comment, but has yet to hear back at the time of publishing.
Last year, Google-owner Alphabet's profit topped $132 billion with revenue over $400bn. While this fine would be the largest under the 2022 Digital Markets Act, the company has been hit by much bigger fines than that proposed by the EC this time around. In 2017, it was fined €2.4 billion for antitrust complaints related to Google Shopping, and the next year was hit by a €4.3bn over Android and €1.4bn for a case relating to online advertising. Last year, the EC leveled a €2.95bn fine following an investigation into adtech, and started a fresh investigation into Google over its use of online content to train its AI.
Appeal in the US
The reports come days after Google filed an appeal in US courts against a decision in 2024 that saw the company deemed a "monopolist" for its search deals, which included paying billions of dollars annually to rivals, including Apple, to use Google as their default for search. Google was ordered to share some search data with rivals, among other remedies.
Such an appeal is no surprise, but Google is arguing that the judge in the case made legal errors and that its search engine dominated because it was technically "superior."
"Competition produces winners and losers," the company said in its filing. "And sometimes a firm – by innovating better, investing more, or just working harder – will leave its rivals behind."
Last week, Google unveiled significant changes to its search tool, heavily embedding AI into the financially lucrative service.
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