The European Union has handed Google two separate fines totalling €890 million (approximately $1 billion), in a ruling that risks further straining trade relations between Brussels and Washington.
The larger of the two penalties, set at €460 million, concerns Google’s practice of promoting its own services in search results, including Google Flights and Google Hotels, at the expense of competing platforms. EU regulators found this constituted unlawful self-preferencing.
The second fine, of €430 million, was imposed after the European Commission determined that Google had prevented app developers from offering consumers free deals outside its Google Play store.
Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s technology commissioner, said the rulings were aimed at opening up the market. “After this decision, we want to ensure more competition and enable other companies to innovate as well,” she said.
