“It is important to make clear that the EU’s access to the US market is not guaranteed and can be limited should the EU continue to pursue discriminatory acts, policies, and practices in the digital sector,” the letter said.
In response to the letter, the EC’s spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Reuters that “when it comes to our rules, the EU has the sovereign right to regulate economic activities on its territory.”
“This of course also applies to our digital regulation, where we will keep enforcing our rules in a fair and non-discriminatory manner—as we have always done,” Regnier said.
Seemingly, the EU is still hopeful that a diplomatic path will emerge allowing it to enforce the DMA without clashing with the Trump administration.
“We believe there is significant potential to deepen cooperation across a broad set of digital issues, including those identified in the EU-US Joint Statement, while respecting our regulatory autonomy,” Regnier said.
Google rushes to make changes
Risking even higher fines for delaying updates, Google does not appear to be depending on Trump quickly stepping in to block the fines.
The EC confirmed that Google has already “rolled out changes related to Google’s steering terms,” which the Commission said showed “good progress towards compliance.”
Additionally, Google has conducted testing on “changes to how it presents its own services on Google Search for free services such as shopping, hotels and flights,” as well as “changes to how it presents shopping ads and content related services, such as sports.”
The search giant has also said that it will voluntarily make changes to AI Overviews and AI Mode to similarly align with the EC’s expectations and avoid self-preferencing or anti-steering practices.
Ars could not immediately reach Google for comment, but its President of Global Affairs, Kent Walker, told Reuters that Google disagreed with the decision and is considering an appeal.
Yelp applauds Google DMA fine
Although Google is cooperating with the EC, the company is clearly upset about required changes that it claims degrade its popular products just to satisfy “a small group of self-serving complainants.”
