Feb 6 (Reuters) – European regulators have launched a series of investigations into Big Tech in recent years.
Here are some of the actions taken:
ALPHABET
The European Commission said in December it had opened an antitrust probe into whether Alphabet’s Google was breaching EU competition rules in its use of online content from web publishers and YouTube for artificial intelligence purposes.
The Commission hit Google with a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.46 billion) antitrust fine on September 5 for anti-competitive practices in its adtech business.
In September 2024, Google won its challenge against a 1.49-billion-euro antitrust fine imposed for hindering rivals in online search advertising.
A week earlier, Google lost its fight against a 2.42-billion-euro fine by EU antitrust regulators years before for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
Britain’s antitrust regulator in September 2024 provisionally found Google had abused its dominant position in digital advertising to restrict competition. A month earlier, it started probes into Alphabet and Amazon’s collaboration with AI startup Anthropic.
France’s competition watchdog said in March 2024 it had fined Google 250 million euros for breaches linked to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers.
AMAZON
Germany’s cartel office has prohibited Amazon from imposing price caps on online retailers in its German marketplace and for the first time claimed several million euros that it said the U.S. company had obtained through anti-competitive behaviour.
The European Union’s General Court dismissed in November a request by Amazon to scrap its designation as a platform subject to stricter requirements under EU online content rules.
APPLE
Italy’s competition authority said in December it had fined Apple and two of its divisions 98.6 million euros over alleged abuse of their dominant position in the mobile app market.
A complaint to EU antitrust regulators was made by two civil rights groups over the terms and conditions of its App Store and devices in October 2025.
In the same month, Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority designated Apple and Google as having “strategic market status”, giving it powers to demand specific changes.
Apple was fined 500 million euros and Meta 200 million euros under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in April 2025.
Apple lost an appeal in March 2025 against a regulatory assessment that opens it up to stricter controls in Germany.
