European authorities have stepped up enforcement against major technology companies, bringing together antitrust, privacy and online-safety actions that span a range of products and services. The following outlines the principal probes, penalties and legal outcomes announced by regulators, and the issues under scrutiny for each firm.
The European Commission announced on July 23 that it fined Google a combined 890 million euros for breaches of European Union rules designed to limit Big Tech dominance. Separately, Europe’s top court earlier this month largely upheld the EU finding that Google used the Android operating system to exclude competitors, sustaining a separate 4.1 billion euro antitrust fine. Regulators are also examining whether Google’s use of publishers’ content together with material from YouTube for artificial intelligence purposes may violate competition rules.
Apple
Under the Digital Markets Act, the European Commission imposed a 500 million euro fine on Apple in 2025. In a related development this month, Apple lost a court challenge to EU rules that designate its App Store and the iOS operating system as "gatekeepers" subject to special competition obligations.
Meta Platforms
Meta Platforms was fined nearly 800 million euros in 2024 in relation to practices tied to Facebook Marketplace. EU authorities have also examined Meta’s operations under both the DMA and the Digital Services Act, with regulators focusing on the company’s "pay or consent" approach to advertising and on protections for children across Facebook and Instagram.
Amazon.com
Amazon has been the subject of regulatory scrutiny over commercial practices on its online marketplace. The company also pursued a legal challenge to obligations imposed under the Digital Services Act, but the EU’s General Court rejected that challenge.
Microsoft
Microsoft avoided what could have been a substantial EU antitrust penalty after offering remedies related to the bundling of its Teams collaboration tool with the Office productivity suite.
TikTok and X
TikTok and X have emerged as prominent targets of the Digital Services Act. Regulators have probed TikTok over online-safety and advertising-transparency concerns. X has been examined for its content-moderation practices, transparency measures and for issues related to its Grok artificial intelligence chatbot.
Market context
The article includes contemporaneous trading indicators that reflect market moves for several of the companies named: MSFT -2.76%, GOOGL -7.22%, AAPL -1.41%, AMZN -4.95%, META -3.8%.
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