Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/23/eu-fines-google-for-competition-breaches-over-search-and-apps Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=490…

Firm told to treat third-party services that appear in its results in ‘fair and non-discriminatory manner’ Google has been fined a total of €890m (£760m) by the EU for breaches of online competition laws by its search and app store services. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Google had broken the Digital Markets Act by giving priority to its own services, such as shopping and hotel deals, in search results over those of its rivals. It also infringed the DMA by preventing app developers from steering consumers towards cheaper offers, including for subscriptions, on websites or alternative app stores. Google has been fined €460m for the search-related breach and €430m for the app store violation. The commission has ordered the company to treat third-party services that appear in its search results in a “fair and non-discriminatory manner” and allow app developers to make offers outside Google’s app store. It noted that Google had already started testing changes to how it displayed search results featuring its own services. It said those changes represent “substantial progress towards compliance”. Consumers would be direct beneficiaries of the decision by the EU, a senior official said. “Research results will be in different in Europe. They will have to adapt their search engine going forward,” they said. Max von Thun, director of the Open Markets Institute Europe thinktank, said the fines were the “bare minimum” for a company that made revenues of just over $400bn last year.