The European Commission's record DMA (Digital Markets Act) fine against Google for self-preferencing remains unissued, despite being scheduled for March1. The DMA is the EU regulation that designates large platforms as gatekeepers and bars them from favouring their own services. The penalty sits in the high triple-digit-million-euro range, which would exceed the €200m DMA record levied on Apple in 2025. the Commission had confirmed it was preparing the fine on 25 May; the new development is why it has not landed.
The hold-up has been attributed to a personal intervention by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which moves the delay from the case team to her office2. In May, more than 30 civil-society organisations led by Open Markets Institute Europe wrote to her expressing "grave concern"3. A fine attributable to a President's personal hold, rather than to the officials who built the case, converts a competition ruling into a bargaining counter in the EU-US trade talks, which is the discretion the DMA's design was meant to remove.
Timing sharpens the stakes. A binding ruling forcing Google to share search-ranking data with rivals is due on 27 July. If the fine clears von der Leyen's office before the summer recess, the two actions would form a double-barrel enforcement sequence against Alphabet inside five weeks. If it does not, Google's rivals keep waiting for a remedy first promised in spring while the conduct continues, and Washington gains a talking point that DMA enforcement bends to politics.
