“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,” Walker said. “Regulation should improve products, not make them worse,” he added.
Since last September, Google has advocated for a “reset” of the DMA, warning that US tech giants face “considerable uncertainty and unpredictability” trying to comply. Google has maintained that the DMA currently favors “commercial interests of a small set of intermediary sites” and complying has already delayed some of Google’s AI features “by up to a year.”
However, the EC said the fines were “proportionate and appropriate,” following a “thorough investigation, including feedback from market participants, and extensive dialogue with Google.”
Among Google rivals celebrating the DMA ruling was Yelp. In a statement provided to Ars, Yelp’s vice president of public policy, David Segal, “applauded” the decision as finally ending Google’s enduring abuses, while accusing Google of degrading its own user experience by promoting its own products above others.
“When told to give equal footing to rivals in line with the DMA, a solution that fosters competition and benefits consumers, Google has instead consistently chosen to unilaterally degrade its own user experience by removing functionality, which is the telltale mark of a monopolist,” Segal said. “European consumers and businesses will reap the rewards of a more fair and open Internet as a result of meaningful enforcement of the DMA, and we are hopeful that the Commission will work to ensure Google comes into compliance and implements a search experience that truly focuses on the user.”
In the press release, Teresa Ribera, an EC member charged with keeping the EU on track with its goals with the DMA, defended the commission’s decision.
“The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine,” Ribera said. “And European consumers have a right to be told by app developers where to sign up to the best offers, even when the app store owner does not get a cut. This is the promise of the DMA, protecting fairness, choice and innovation in digital markets for the benefit of all European citizens.”
