The European Union is reportedly considering imposing the largest-ever fine under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) over suspected self-preferencing by Google’s search service. Regulators are closely examining whether Google distorted competition by displaying its own services more favourably than rivals in search results.

Cryptopolitan, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Sunday that the European Commission is in the final stage of reviewing a plan to impose a fine worth hundreds of millions of euros on Alphabet’s Google. If confirmed, it is likely to become the largest fine issued under the DMA framework.

The key issue is whether Google used its search engine dominance to place its own services more prominently than competitors. The Commission formally opened the Google Search case in March last year and has investigated whether the service was designed to concentrate search traffic on Google’s own services.

The final decision has reportedly been passed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The industry is watching for the possibility of a conclusion before the summer recess.

The case is also being described as sensitive in terms of timing. That is because a massive penalty targeting U.S. big tech, coming soon after a recent tariff agreement between the EU and the United States, could be seen as adding strain to transatlantic relations.

The Commission says the core of the measure is not simply about imposing a fine. Thomas Regnier (토마스 레그니에), a Commission spokesperson, said the Commission is still discussing solutions with Google and can move immediately to additional steps if talks fail to produce results. "Even if we continue negotiations on a future solution, we will not hesitate to move to the next stage as quickly as possible," he said.

Google has pushed back, saying European users’ search experience has worsened since the DMA took effect. Google said it revised its search algorithm and service structure to reflect European regulations, but its product competitiveness has been significantly reduced.

A Google spokesperson said, "The search changes applied under the DMA caused the biggest level of performance degradation in the product’s history," and "created a second-rate experience for European users, while only some stakeholders benefited."

This is not the first clash between the EU and Google. Since 2010, the EU has conducted antitrust investigations across Google’s core businesses, including search, the Android operating system and the AdSense advertising platform. The cumulative fines imposed in the process have reportedly exceeded 8 billion euros.

In particular, the Android-related sanctions became a catalyst for changing Google’s business structure itself. The EU judged that Google forced smartphone makers to install certain apps and made it difficult to use Android fork operating systems based on competing platforms.

As a result, since 2018 Google has changed its policy so manufacturers can obtain a Play Store licence without bundling all Google apps. It later began offering European Android users an option during initial setup to choose their default browser and search engine.

Pressure in the ad technology market is also continuing. The Commission began an investigation into Google’s advertising business in 2021, and last year imposed a fine of about 2.95 billion euros for anti-competitive behaviour in the ad technology market.

The market sees the search case as a key test of how far the DMA can regulate self-preferencing by big tech platforms. The next focus is whether Google will present additional remedies and whether the Commission will accept them. If a conclusion comes before the summer recess, the EU’s platform regulatory stance could become even tougher.