The European Commission adopted two separate non-compliance decisions against Google on July 23, fining the company 460 million euros for self-preferencing its own services on Search and 430 million euros for restricting how Google Play lets developers steer users to cheaper purchase channels. The combined penalty, 890 million euros, just over $1 billion, arrives with a 60-day compliance window that closes September 21. Miss that date and Google faces periodic penalty payments of up to 5 percent of its average daily worldwide turnover, on top of the fines already levied.
The detail that matters most for search teams sits inside the Commission’s own summary of the case: Google has already made proposals on how the decision’s ranking principles would apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode, and dialogue on that question is continuing. This is the first time generative search surfaces have been pulled explicitly into a DMA remedy discussion. If the non-discrimination obligation now governing blue-link rankings extends to AI answers, publishers get a regulatory lever over how those surfaces cite and rank sources, not just how Search results are laid out.
We reported July 16 that the Financial Times had learned Brussels was preparing this exact finding. The anticipation is now resolved: a fine is attached, a deadline is set, and Google has 60 days to act rather than wait out further review.
On the Search side, the Commission said Google “gives preferential treatment to its own services, including shopping, hotels, transport and sports results, over those of third parties,” placing them at the top of results with enhanced visuals and filters that rival services do not get. The required fix, in the Commission’s words, is that Google must treat third-party services “in a fair and non-discriminatory manner” relative to its own.
On Play, the Commission found that Google “prevents app developers from freely communicating and promoting offers and concluding contracts with users” through distribution channels outside the Play Store, and that its steering fees, in both amount and duration, went beyond what the DMA permits. Developers must now be free, technically and contractually, to point users toward purchase options beyond Google’s own store.
Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President for the Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, put the rationale in market terms: “The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine.”
The Commission also credited Google with early movement, noting the company has begun testing changes to how it presents shopping ads and content services such as sports, and has already rolled out revised steering terms it described as substantial progress. None of that testing has been measured independently for ranking impact, and the central open question, how AI Overviews and AI Mode would apply the same fairness principle, is still a proposal under discussion rather than a finalized remedy.
For an EU-facing SEO or a vertical competitor in travel, retail, or local services, the next 60 days matter more than the fine itself. Watch whether the redesigned shopping, hotel, and sports layouts change ranking position or only visual treatment, since the DMA obligation covers fair presentation, not guaranteed traffic parity. Track what Google actually proposes for AI Overviews and AI Mode citations specifically: if the non-discrimination principle reaches generative answers before September 21, it becomes the first regulatory constraint on how those surfaces select and rank sources.
Search Engine Land (Barry Schwartz) reported the European Commission’s decision and penalty terms on July 23, 2026.
