If you compete in shopping, travel, or ticketing anywhere in Europe, some of the most valuable real estate on Google's results page may be about to open up. On July 23rd the European Commission fined Google €890 million and ordered it to stop giving its own services preferential placement in Search.

Forget the number for a second — the number is the least interesting part. The order attached to it is what could redraw the European SERP.

What the Commission Actually Found

Two separate decisions, two separate fines. €460 million for self-preferencing in Search, and €430 million over Google Play's anti-steering rules. It's the first time Google's been penalized under the Digital Markets Act, and it's the largest DMA fine issued so far.

On the Search side, the Commission found Google gives its own services preferential treatment over third parties in four named categories: shopping, hotels, transport, and sports results. The mechanism it described will sound familiar to anyone who's watched their organic listing get shoved below the fold — Google's own units get prime placement at the top of the page, plus richer visual treatment and filters that comparable third-party services don't get.

That's not a novel complaint. It's the same grievance comparison sites have been filing since the 2017 Shopping case. What's new is that under the DMA, it's now a documented breach with a cease-and-desist attached.

The Play Store half is narrower but real: Google blocked developers from telling their own customers about cheaper offers elsewhere. The Commission was sp...