European regulators have increasingly targeted major technology companies, pursuing a spectrum of enforcement actions that include large antitrust fines, designations under new regulatory frameworks and investigations into product design and AI features. Below is a company-by-company account of the principal measures and proceedings reported by regulators.
Alphabet
The European Commission said in December it opened an antitrust investigation into whether Alphabet's Google is breaking EU competition rules by using online content from web publishers and YouTube for artificial intelligence purposes. In addition to that inquiry, the Commission imposed a 2.95-billion-euro antitrust fine on Google on September 5 for anti-competitive practices in its adtech business.
In September 2024, Google successfully challenged a 1.49-billion-euro antitrust fine that had been imposed for obstructing rivals in online search advertising. However, a week earlier the company lost an appeal over a 2.42-billion-euro fine levied by EU antitrust regulators years earlier for using its own price-comparison shopping service to obtain an unfair advantage over smaller European competitors.
Enforcers in the United Kingdom also took action: Britain's antitrust regulator provisionally found in September 2024 that Google had abused its dominant position in digital advertising to restrict competition. The U.K. regulator had, a month earlier, opened probes into collaborations between Alphabet and Amazon with the AI firm Anthropic. Separately, France's competition watchdog fined Google 250 million euros in March 2024 for breaches related to EU intellectual property rules in its dealings with media publishers.
Amazon
Germany's competition authority has banned Amazon from enforcing price caps on online retailers operating on its German marketplace and, for the first time, demanded several million euros it says the U.S. company obtained through anti-competitive conduct. The European Union's General Court rejected in November a request from Amazon to annul its designation as a platform subject to stricter requirements under EU online content rules.
Apple
Italy's competition authority imposed a 98.6-million-euro fine in December on Apple and two of its divisions over alleged abuse of their dominant position in the mobile app market. In October 2025 two civil rights groups lodged a complaint with EU antitrust regulators concerning the App Store's terms and conditions and device restrictions.
Regulatory action elsewhere has included the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority designating Apple and Google as having "strategic market status," a label that grants the CMA powers to require specific changes. Under the DMA, Brussels fined Apple 500 million euros in April 2025; Meta received a 200-million-euro fine at the same time. Apple lost an appeal in March 2025 against a regulatory assessment that subjects it to stricter controls in Germany.
In measures stretching back into 2024, Apple lost a challenge in September 2024 against an order by EU regulators to repay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland as part of broader scrutiny of tax arrangements. Regulators reported in July 2024 that Apple agreed to open its tap-and-go mobile payments system to competitors to resolve an EU antitrust probe. Additionally, Brussels fined Apple 1.84 billion euros in March 2024 for actions that impeded competition from music streaming rivals.
Meta
The European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into Meta in December that focuses on artificial-intelligence features within the WhatsApp messaging platform. Meta has also faced fines and charges tied to other areas: in November 2024 it was fined 797.72 million euros for abusive practices that advantaged Facebook Marketplace, and in July 2024 it was charged with failing to comply with the DMA over a new advertising model described as pay or consent.
Microsoft
In June 2024 the European Commission charged Microsoft with illegally bundling its chat and video app Teams with the Office product suite.
TikTok
On February 6 EU tech regulators accused TikTok of breaching online content rules through design features described as addictive and warned the platform it may have to alter its design or face fines. The European Commission stated in October 2025 that TikTok and Meta preliminarily appeared to have violated obligations under the Digital Services Act to provide researchers with adequate access to public data. TikTok was charged in May for failing to publish an advertisement repository required by the DSA that would enable researchers and users to detect scam advertisements; it avoided a fine after promising transparency concessions.
X (formerly Twitter)
French police raided the offices of the social media network on February 3 and prosecutors ordered Elon Musk to be questioned as part of a widening inquiry. The European Commission said on January 26 that X's Grok chatbot will be investigated for potentially disseminating illegal content in the EU, including manipulated sexualised images. EU tech regulators fined X 120 million euros in December for breaching online content rules, marking the first sanction issued under the Digital Services Act.
Currency note
The reporting includes the exchange rate used for the euro-dollar conversion: $1 = 0.8528 euros.
These enforcement actions span antitrust fines, regulatory designations under emerging frameworks such as the DMA and DSA, content-rule sanctions, and probes focused on AI uses of publisher material. The variety and scale of measures illustrate a broad regulatory focus across markets from digital advertising and online marketplaces to app distribution, payments, music streaming and AI-driven features.