The European Commission issued two decisions against Google on July 23, totalling 890 million euros [1].
The larger, 460 million, concerns self-preferencing in Google Search. The Commission found that Google displayed its own shopping, hotel, transport and sports-results services 'more prominently in search results, including at the top,' while comparable services from other companies received less visibility [1]. That is a description of the page most people see every day, rendered as a finding of fact.
The second, 430 million, concerns Google Play. The Commission found that Google's steering fees and charging periods prevented app developers from telling their own customers about cheaper ways to buy [1] - the practice usually called anti-steering, and the reason apps for years could not mention that a subscription cost less on the web.
Both are firsts for Google under the Digital Markets Act, the law the European Union wrote to regulate large platforms by rule rather than by individual antitrust case [1]. The distinction matters: a conventional antitrust action requires proving harm in court over years, while the DMA sets obligations in advance and penalises breaches of them.
Google must cease both practices immediately [1]. What the decisions test is not whether the conduct occurred - the Commission has now found that it did - but whether a rule written in advance can change how a platform behaves faster than a lawsuit can.
