European regulators threw the book at big tech giants throughout 2024 and 2025, handing out fines that topped €20 billion. The European Commission on December 9 opened an antitrust probe to check if Alphabet’s Google broke EU competition rules when it scraped online content from web publishers and YouTube for artificial intelligence purposes. Brussels is going after every tech giant that steps out of line.
Google’s Billion-Euro Nightmare
The Commission hit Google with a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.46 billion) antitrust fine on September 5. The company ran anti-competitive practices across its lucrative adtech business. Google controls the tools that websites use to sell ads, the exchanges where ads get bought, and even competes for those same ad spots. Regulators said Google abused its dominant position in digital advertising to restrict competition and squeeze out anyone trying to challenge its empire.
September 2024 delivered mixed results for the search giant. Google won its challenge against a 1.49-billion-euro antitrust fine previously imposed for hindering rivals in online search advertising. Small victory there. But just a week earlier, the company lost its fight against a brutal 2.42-billion-euro fine from years before. EU antitrust regulators caught Google red-handed promoting its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals.
Over in France, the story got worse. France’s competition watchdog in March 2024 fined Google 250 million euros for breaches linked to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers. Google had been using news content without properly compensating publishers.
Britain Joins the Fight
Britain’s antitrust regulator in September 2024 provisionally found that Google kept abusing its power in digital advertising to restrict competition. A month earlier, UK authorities started probes into Alphabet and Amazon’s collaboration with AI startup Anthropic. Regulators worry these partnerships might create new monopolies before AI even takes off. Same month, the Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority designated Apple and Google as having strategic market status.
Italy’s competition authority on December 22 it had fined the technology giant and two of its divisions 98.6 million euros for alleged abuse of dominant position in the mobile app market. Italian regulators saw how Apple forced app developers to use its payment system and charged outrageous commissions.
Then two civil rights groups filed a complaint with EU antitrust regulators (shared with Reuters ahead of publication) in October 2025. The complaint challenged Apple’s terms and conditions for the App Store and devices. These groups argued the U.S. company locks users into its ecosystem while squashing any real choice.
Apple was fined 500 million euros while Meta got slapped with 200 million euros under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in April 2025. The DMA is Brussels’ new weapon—regulations designed specifically to break Big Tech’s stranglehold on digital markets. In March 2025, Apple lost an appeal against a regulatory assessment that opens the company to stricter controls in Germany following years of debate over its market position. German regulators finally had enough of Apple’s excuses.
The option came in September 2024 when Apple lost the fight against an order forcing it to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland. This was part of a larger crackdown on sweetheart deals between multinationals and EU countries. Ireland had given Apple tax breaks so generous they were illegal. Brussels called it state aid and demanded the money back.
Regulators in July 2024 announced Apple agreed to open its tap-and-go mobile payments system to rivals to settle an EU antitrust probe. For years, Apple blocked other payment apps from using iPhone’s NFC chip. Now you’ll actually get choices. Brussels fined Apple 1.84 billion euros in March 2024 for thwarting competition from music streaming rivals through restrictions on its App Store. Spotify users couldn’t even learn about cheaper subscriptions outside Apple’s payment system. Apple made sure every transaction went through its 30% toll booth.
Meta Can’t Catch a Break
The Commission opened on December 4 an antitrust investigation into Meta examining its rollout of AI features in the WhatsApp messaging platform. Regulators suspect Meta is training AI models on your private conversations without asking permission. The Commission had already fined Meta 797.72 million euros in November 2024 for abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace. Meta used data from Facebook to give Marketplace an unfair edge over classified ad competitors.
In July 2024, regulators charged Meta for failing to comply with the DMA over its new pay or consent advertising model. Meta’s “solution” was forcing users to either pay a subscription or accept invasive ad tracking. Brussels said that’s not real choice.
In October 2025, the European Commission found both a Chinese-owned social media app and Meta breached their obligation to grant researchers adequate access to public data under the DSA according to preliminary findings. When platforms hide data from independent researchers, nobody can verify if they’re spreading misinformation or manipulating users.
Microsoft, TikTok, X Face the Music
The Commission in June 2024 charged Microsoft with illegally bundling its chat and video app Teams with its Office product. Microsoft learned nothing from its 1990s browser wars. They’re forcing Teams by tying it to Word and Excel. Companies that want Slack have to pay for Teams anyway.
TikTok got charged by the Commission in May for failing to comply with the DSA’s obligation to publish an advertisement repository that allows researchers and users to detect scam advertisements. The Chinese platform avoided a fine after pledging transparency concessions, the EU announced in December.
Elon Musk’s social media company X was fined 120 million euros by EU tech regulators on December 5 for breaching online content rules. This was the first sanction under the DSA—Europe’s new law forcing platforms to police harmful content.
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. Amazon wanted special treatment. The court said no way.
Tech companies can’t do whatever they want anymore. They can’t bundle products you don’t need, hide how their algorithms work, or use your data without permission. When Apple collects that 30% commission or when Google dominates search results, regulators across EU countries are watching. More investigations are coming. More fines will drop. Brussels proved it has teeth, and Silicon Valley understands that European rules matter.