Feb 6 (Reuters) – European regulators have launched a series of investigations into Big Tech in recent years. Here are some of the actions taken: ALPHABET The European Commission said in December it had opened an antitrust probe into whether Alphabet's Google was breaching EU competition rules in its use of online content from web publishers and YouTube for artificial intelligence purposes. The Commission hit Google with a 2.95-billion-euro ($3.46 billion) antitrust fine on September 5 for anti-competitive practices in its adtech business. In September 2024, Google won its challenge against a 1.49-billion-euro antitrust fine imposed for hindering rivals in online search advertising. A week earlier, Google lost its fight against a 2.42-billion-euro fine by EU antitrust regulators years before for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals. Britain's antitrust regulator in September 2024 provisionally found Google had abused its dominant position in digital advertising to restrict competition. A month earlier, it started probes into Alphabet and Amazon's collaboration with AI startup Anthropic. France's competition watchdog said in March 2024 it had fined Google 250 million euros for breaches linked to EU intellectual property rules in its relationship with media publishers. AMAZON Germany's cartel office has prohibited Amazon from imposing price caps on online retailers in its German marketplace and for the first time claimed several million euros that it said the U.S. company had obtained through anti-competitive behaviour. The European Union's General Court dismissed in November a request by Amazon to scrap its designation as a platform subject to stricter requirements under EU online content rules. APPLE Italy's competition authority said in December it had fined Apple and two of its divisions 98.6 million euros over alleged abuse of their dominant position in the mobile app market. A complaint to EU antitrust regulators was made by two civil rights groups over the terms and conditions of its App Store and devices in October 2025. In the same month, Britain's Competition and Markets Authority designated Apple and Google as having "strategic market status", giving it powers to demand specific changes. Apple was fined 500 million euros and Meta 200 million euros under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in April 2025. Apple lost an appeal in March 2025 against a regulatory assessment that opens it up to stricter controls in Germany. In September 2024, Apple lost the fight against an order by EU regulators to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes to Ireland, as part of a larger crackdown against sweetheart deals. Regulators said in July 2024 that Apple had agreed to open its tap-and-go mobile payments system to rivals to settle an EU antitrust probe. Brussels fined Apple 1.84 billion euros in March 2024 for thwarting competition from music streaming rivals. META The Commission opened an antitrust investigation into Meta in December over AI features in the WhatsApp messaging platform. It fined Meta 797.72 million euros in November 2024 for abusive practices benefiting Facebook Marketplace, and charged it in July 2024 for failing to comply with the DMA in its new pay or consent advertising model. MICROSOFT The Commission in June 2024 charged Microsoft with illegally bundling its chat and video app Teams with its Office product. TIKTOK EU tech regulators charged the social media app on February 6 with breaching online content rules through addictive features and said it may have to change its design or risk a fine. The European Commission said in October 2025 that TikTok and Meta breached obligation to grant researchers adequate access to public data under the DSA according to preliminary findings. TikTok was charged by in May for failing to comply with the DSA's obligation to publish an advertisement repository that allows researchers and users to detect scam advertisements. It avoided a fine after pledging transparency concessions. X French police raided the offices of Elon Musk's social media network on February 3 and prosecutors ordered the billionaire to face questions in a widening investigation. Its Grok chatbot will be investigated over whether it disseminates illegal content such as manipulated sexualised images in the EU, the European Commission said on January 26. X was fined 120 million euros by EU tech regulators in December for breaching online content rules, the first sanction under the Digital Services Act. ($1 = 0.8528 euros) (Compiled by Paolo Laudani, Alessandro Parodi, Charlotte Bawol, Olivier Cherfan, Enrico Sciacovelli and Olga Sawczuk in Gdansk. Editing by Alexander Smith)
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