The DMA states that businesses must not favor their own services over those of third parties in rankings. The European regulator found Google preferenced its own services across a number of verticals, including hotels and transport.
The commission said the search giant gives its own services more prominence in search by using, for example, “enhanced visuals and filters” or putting its services at the top of results.
In a separate decision, Google was fined a further €430 million for not letting app developers that distribute their apps via Google Play freely inform customers of “often cheaper, offers, and to direct them to those offers to make purchases, for example on websites or alternative app stores.”
The commission said this was also a breach of Google's obligations under the DMA.
“The two decisions we adopted today confirm our determination to apply the Digital Markets Act to safeguard business and innovation,” said Henna Virkkunen, the commission's EVP for tech sovereignty, security and democracy. “We found that Google harms businesses offering similar services, such as shopping or sports, by not granting them the same level of prominence on Google Search.”
Following the regulator’s decision, Google has been directed to bring in measures to treat third-party services in a “fair and non-discriminatory manner.”
Reacting to the news, Johannes Reck, CEO of GetYourGuide, said this is just the beginning.
“Real change means Google evolves its search products to truly serve consumers and businesses. Until that happens, the job isn’t finished,” Reck said in a LinkedIn post.
He added that Google had continued to preference its services throughout the two-year investigation “capturing market share and profits the whole time.”
“It will keep paying fines as long as that's cheaper than complying. The commission needs recurring fines that make compliance the better deal. No half-measures,” Reck wrote.
EU travel tech said the fine reflected the “gravity of the harm, its duration—including the fact that Google has continued to blatantly self-preference its own services in its search generative AI features—and that the conduct affected several different verticals."
Emmanuel Mounier, secretary general of the organization, which represents the digital travel and distribution sector, said the decision “sends a clear message: The era of unchecked self-preferencing in European online search is coming to an end.”
“But a decision without compliance is merely a statement of principle, of which we have seen far too many. We expect Alphabet to act swiftly and in good faith to level the playing field in travel search.”
Earlier this year, Trivago filed an antritrust suit against Google for “systematically” favoring its own hotel metasearch over third party services.
“We believe this has weakened our competitive position, limited our ability to grow and ultimately harmed the travelers who rely on fair and open competition,” Johannes Thomas, Trivago's CEO said at the time. He added that it would be seeking “full compensation” for damages it had suffered.
The commission said Google has already proposed and begun testing changes in how it presents its services on search for hotels and flights. It added it will monitor Google’s proposed changes.
In addition, the regulator said discussions will continue with the search giant on proposals around AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Late last year, the commission said it would examine whether data from websites used in AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results, without compensating content publishers, was anti-competitive.
Google must comply with the decisions within 60 days but can appeal.
"This implementation of the DMA continues to break everyday products," said Kent Walker, president of global affairs for Google and Alphabet. "To comply, we are having to strip away real-time search features Europeans love—like instant pricing and direct availability for hotels, flights and restaurants—and dismantle safety protections on Google Play. This isn't fair competition; it's product degradation driven by a small group of self-serving complainants, with European businesses and consumers taking the hit. Regulation should improve products, not make them worse."
Google-parent Alphabet was named a gatekeeper under the DMA in July 2023 for its search engine. In March 2025, the commission told the company it was breaching the DMA following a non-compliance investigation into Google’s measures to prevent self-preferencing.
In late 2024, Google laid out proposals to comply with the DMA. In a blog post, the search giant listed 20 modifications to search, including the “introduction of dedicated units and formats to boost the prominence of comparison sites for free in categories like flights, hotels and shopping.”
Google added at the time that comparison sites were seeking further changes.
Tags: European Commission Kent Walker Google Digital Markets Act (DMA)
