Officials say the company used its dominant position as a search engine to steer traffic toward its own services while limiting the visibility of competing businesses. The penalty is Google’s first under the bloc’s major big tech law, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and is the result of a series of EU investigations into the American tech giant. However, the firm is likely to avoid fresh fines as EU regulators lauded good progress in its ongoing efforts to comply with the landmark legislation. The fine could, nonetheless, lead to a further political clash with the US, whose president, Donald Trump, has threatened to introduce harsh tariffs in response to what he views as unfair European regulations. What were the violations? The firm has been fined over two separate violations. The first – worth €460 million – is linked to Google’s self-preferencing of its own services in search results, directing web users to platforms such as Google Shopping and Google Hotels over competing services. The second fine, worth €490 million, is in response to restrictions placed on businesses that directed consumers to alternative purchase platforms outside Google Play, the company’s digital content store. EU regulators said that the company’s actions restricted competition and reduced opportunities for other businesses to reach users. “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,” Henna Virkkunen, EU commissioner responsible for tech sovereignty, said in a statement.