Google (Alphabet)

Europe said Google used its popular search engine like a referee who also plays on one team—pushing Google Shopping results above rival comparison sites. Regulators called that an abuse of dominance and issued a huge fine plus orders to treat rivals more fairly.

Outcome: €2.42B fine; requirement to treat rival services fairly in Shopping results.

Europe said Google used Android—the operating system on most non-Apple phones—as a lever to keep Google Search and its app store everywhere. Phone makers who wanted Google's Play Store had to bundle Search and Chrome too, and Google paid some of them not to pre-install rival search engines. The EU fined Google billions and ordered changes to how Android is licensed.

Outcome: The Commission fined Google €4.34 billion in 2018. The General Court reduced it to about €4.125 billion. On 2 July 2026 the Court of Justice dismissed Google's appeal, so that fine is final.

The US government sued Google over search defaults—the box most people use to find things online. A court found Google broke the law in 2024. The September 2025 remedy order curbs exclusive default deals but does not spin off Chrome or Android.

Outcome: Judge Mehta found liability in August 2024 and, in a September 2025 order, barred exclusive default deals and required data-sharing. He refused to order a Chrome or Android sale. Google appealed to the D.C. Circuit in January 2026; the Justice Department and states cross-appealed. On May 7, 2026 he denied, without prejudice, Google's request for a partial stay. The cross-appeals were still pending in October 2026.

Many websites show Google search ads through a program called AdSense. Europe said Google used contract fine print to stop those sites from also running ads from Google's rivals. That kept Google dominant in brokering search ads for publishers. Google paid a €1.49 billion fine and changed its contracts.

Outcome: €1.49 billion fine in 2019; Google required to remove restrictive clauses from publisher contracts.

Europe's Digital Markets Act tells the biggest tech platforms—gatekeepers like Apple and Google—what they must do up front: choice screens, alternative app stores, fair messaging links, and more. Early compliance updates drew complaints that new fees and scary pop-ups discourage real competition. EU regulators opened investigations, but no final penalties have been decided—this is an ongoing regulatory story, not a finished court case.

Outcome: The Commission has issued DMA non-compliance decisions, including Apple's €500 million steering fine and Meta's €200 million pay-or-consent fine in April 2025. On 8 July 2026 the General Court dismissed Apple's challenge to its App Store and iOS gatekeeper designation. Other DMA files remain open.

When you load a news site, an invisible auction often decides which ad you see. A US court found Google illegally steered that chain and, in September 2026, ordered behavioral fixes—not an AdX breakup. The EU investigation is still open.

Outcome: US track: liability 17 April 2025. On 2 September 2026 Judge Brinkema rejected an AdX sale and accepted behavioral remedies; the parties had not agreed a final judgment as of early October 2026. EU track: the Commission fined Google about €2.95 billion in 2025 for ad-tech abuse. Treat the two as related but not identical.

When you open a news website, a hidden auction often picks the ad you see. A US court found in April 2025 that Google sat at too many steps in that chain and used that position illegally. The September 2026 remedy order requires more open auctions and interoperability but does not force Google to sell AdX.

Outcome: Liability found April 17, 2025. On September 2, 2026 Judge Brinkema ordered behavioral remedies — Prebid integration, publisher data export, and limits on AdWords favoring Google's tools — and rejected an AdX sale. A joint proposed final judgment was filed October 2, 2026 with disagreements still marked for the court. It had not been entered. Google has said it plans to appeal the liability ruling.

Google wants to replace tracking cookies in Chrome with new Privacy Sandbox tools. UK regulators opened a long-running investigation worried that the switch could hand Google more ad power while hurting news sites and ad-tech companies. Google made promises to the CMA and keeps delaying cookie removal. Oversight continues—no final verdict that the plan is safe for competition.

Outcome: On 17 October 2025 the CMA released the 2022 commitments. Google had dropped plans to remove third-party cookies or force a standalone cookie prompt, and in October 2025 said it would retire several Sandbox APIs. The CMA found its competition concerns no longer arose.

Europe's Digital Markets Act treats the biggest tech platforms like regulated utilities: they must open doors they used to lock. Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and others must offer more choice in app stores, messaging, search defaults, and data sharing. Regulators are still checking whether the changes work—or whether companies comply only on the surface.

Outcome: Designations and core obligations are in force; compliance dialogues, DMA Article 29 market investigations, and potential fines remain active. No final closure of oversight.

Most companies rent computing power from a few giant clouds—Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The FTC is asking whether those providers make it artificially hard to leave or to run popular software on a competitor's servers. The review is ongoing; no final US case has concluded.

Outcome: Information gathering and staff analysis continue; no public enforcement decision or court ruling has concluded the inquiry.

Europe closed its Apple Pay antitrust case on 11 July 2024. Apple committed for ten years to let other wallets use the iPhone's tap-to-pay chip in the European Economic Area. Digital Markets Act payment duties are a separate file and were not closed by that decision.

Outcome: The Commission closed AT.40452 on 11 July 2024 by making Apple's NFC access commitments binding for ten years. DMA payment duties are a separate, still-active track.

Big Tech funded AI startups through partnerships instead of classic mergers. The FTC wants to know whether those deals secretly block competition for chips, data, and engineers. This is an inquiry—a fact-finding step—not a ruling that AI partnerships are illegal.

Outcome: Mandatory orders to major players are pending analysis; no enforcement action or court judgment has concluded the inquiry.

News sites sell ad space through automated auctions. Publishers say Google controls the server that runs those auctions and steers revenue to itself. The DOJ and states sued alongside a broader ad-tech case. Trials are ahead; courts have not ruled Google liable.

Outcome: Consolidated litigation proceeds toward trial; courts have not entered final judgment or structural breakup of publisher tools.

Epic beat Google before a jury on the Play Store. An appeals court agreed in July 2025, and the Supreme Court would not pause the order in October 2025. The case was still on appeal and in remedy talks in 2026.

Outcome: Jury verdict for Epic in December 2023. A three-year injunction requires rival stores and catalog access. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in July 2025. The Supreme Court denied a stay in October 2025. A further stay request and settlement talk were reported into 2026. The injunction fight is not over.

Britain is using a new law to put conduct rules on Google search. The investigation started in 2025. The actual rules were still being written in 2026.

Outcome: The investigation was opened in 2025. Designation and the content of any conduct requirements were the unfinished work into 2026. This is a UK file, separate from the US search appeal and from EU DMA fines.

Europe fined Google about €2.95 billion in 2025 over ad tech. Google contests EU antitrust fines as a matter of course. The American case ended its remedy phase in September 2026 without forcing a sale of the ad exchange.

Outcome: A 2025 Commission fine of about €2.95 billion is on the public record. Google's practice in EU antitrust cases is to appeal, and this fine should be treated as contested until the General Court rules. The US court, separately, rejected an AdX divestiture on 2 September 2026.

Google Search is under Europe's Digital Markets Act, and Brussels is still checking whether results and data practices comply. That supervision was ongoing in 2026 and is not the American search appeal.

Outcome: Designation is in force. Non-compliance work continued through 2026 alongside other Google DMA files. This is not the 2017 Shopping fine and not the US D.C. Circuit appeal.

The government's ad-tech win against Google does not automatically pay publishers. Their own damages cases were still alive after the September 2026 remedy.

Outcome: The DOJ won liability in April 2025 and a behavioral remedy framework on September 2, 2026. In the publisher multidistrict case in the Southern District of New York, Judge Castel denied Google's summary-judgment motion and set trial for April 5, 2027. No damages judgment is recorded here.

Britain investigated the big cloud providers and moved the issue into its new conduct-rules system. That follow-on work was still open in 2026, beside a separate EU look at AWS and Azure.

Outcome: The market investigation's findings fed SMS work rather than a one-time fine. EU DMA cloud investigations of AWS and Azure are a parallel file. Neither had produced a final conduct code that ended the issue by October 2026.

South Korea's competition authority fined and ordered Google over the Play Store. Google appealed. That Korean case was still a live appeal while the US Epic case moved on a separate track.

Outcome: The KFTC issued corrective orders and a fine. Google appealed. Epic's US injunction and Korea's order are different instruments aimed at similar conduct. Neither replaces the other.

India's competition authority fined Google over Android and the Play Store in 2022. Appeals have changed parts of those orders and were still the live procedure.

Outcome: CCI orders in 2022 imposed penalties and behavioral directions. Google obtained appellate scrutiny that reduced or stayed parts of the orders at times. The appeals were not a final Supreme Court end-point that wiped the file out. Treat the Indian docket as open until that court says otherwise.

AI subscribers sued Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google on September 18, 2026, saying the companies agreed to slow model improvements. The case is new and undecided.

Outcome: No motion has been decided in this summary. A complaint is not a finding.

A Wi-Fi-calling antitrust case is still open against Apple and Google. On September 23, 2026 the judge postponed that decision and sent Samsung's part to arbitration.

Outcome: Samsung was compelled to arbitration. The antitrust merits against Apple and Google were not decided.