The European Union (EU) announced on July 23 (local time) that it will impose an additional fine of 890 million euros (approximately 1.5 trillion won) on the U.S. big tech company Google.

This decision was made because Google violated the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a core competition law designed to regulate the market dominance of large online platforms.

The EU determined that Google disadvantaged competing companies by leveraging its virtually monopolistic search engine and Google Play app store to steer consumers toward its own services and applications.

The EU levied a fine of 460 million euros for Google favoring its own services during the search process, and 430 million euros for restricting consumers from accessing cheaper alternative routes in the operation of Google Play.

Under the EU's DMA, companies designated as "gatekeepers" (dominant market operators) are prohibited from treating their own services more favorably than other services in search rankings.

The EU found that Google violated the DMA by placing its own services at the top of search results for shopping, transportation, and tourism, or by displaying them using more prominent visual elements.

In addition, the EU concluded that Google failed to comply with obligations requiring app developers distributing apps via Google Play to freely direct consumers to alternative purchasing channels, and to open pathways for consumers to make purchases through websites, other app stores, or alternative platforms.

Following this measure, Google must implement corrective actions within the next 60 days.

If it fails to implement the corrective measures, the EU can periodically impose penalty payments of up to 5 percent of Google's total global turnover.

This is not the first time Google has received a hefty fine from the EU.

In 2018, the EU imposed a record-breaking fine of 4.343 billion euros (approximately 7.67 trillion won) on Google for abusing its dominant market position regarding the Android operating system (OS).

Google appealed the decision and fought a legal battle against the EU for eight years, but recently lost at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the highest court, finalizing the fine.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)