Google reportedly paid $10.5 billion as fine in Europe. According to an X (formerly Twitter) post shared by The Kobeissi Letter, the US tech giant has added a literal line item in their quarterly reports called “European Commission fines.

” According to it, Google has paid $10.5 billion in EU fines as of September 30th. “The EU has become so heavily regulated that fines are a ‘normal’ line item now. What is happening in Europe?,” the post reads.The Kobeissi Letter also shared a screenshot from a Google quarterly report that shows “European Commission fines” under the “Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities”. In the foot notes, the European Commission fines is later defined as “The amounts related to the European Commission (EC) fines, including any under appeal, are included in accrued expenses and other current liabilities on our Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Amounts include the effects of foreign exchange and interest. See Note 10 for further details.”The taxes add to tensions between the US and the EU, following a recent US visa ban on five Europeans and Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on the bloc.

US government bans 5 prominent Europeans from entering America

Earlier this week, the US government banned five prominent Europeans from entering the country, accusing them of pushing online censorship against American viewpoints. The banned Europeans included Thierry Breton, who served as the European commissioner for the internal market from 2019-2024.

Others on the list were Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, Josephine Ballon of the German nonprofit HateAid and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index (GDI).The 'visa ban' was announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing them of being involved in online censorship of Americans. Trump officials have reportedly ordered the US diplomats to build opposition to the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), which is said to be aimed to combat hateful speech, misinformation and disinformation, but which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on American tech companies.

Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Europe Union

In a post on Truth Social recently, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose “substantial” tariffs on any country that enacts Digital Taxes. According to reports, US officials have raised the matter in trade talks with other nations and the European Union, arguing that digital taxes unfairly impact US tech companies such as Meta, Amazon.com Inc. and Google owner Alphabet Inc.According to a Bloomberg report, Trump recently held a meeting with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg where the two discussed digital taxes and the broader threat of what they consider European regulatory overreach. Meta, which makes most of its money from targeted advertising on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, is directly impacted by these taxes, which are imposed on the revenue tech companies generate from users in a specific country.