Regulators handed Alphabet, Apple, Meta and Amazon more than $7.8 billion in penalties during 2025 for privacy and competition breaches. Proton collated the numbers through its Big Tech Fines Tracker, which looks at public records. The total since tracking began in 2022 now stands above $21bn.
On paper, $7.8 billion looks eye catching. Proton compared that figure against free cash flow and reached a stark finding. Paying every 2025 penalty at the same time would take 28 days and 48 minutes. The data uses free cash flow numbers reported through MarketWatch.
That short payment window raises doubts about deterrence. High penalties arrive year after year, yet enforcement actions keep coming. The tracker describes a pattern of rule breaking that continues across app stores, advertising and data handling.
Romain Digneaux, Public Policy Manager at Proton, put it plainly. “Clearly, fines are not working. If they were, after years of slapping down Big Tech one enforcement action after another, we’d see some sort of change.”
Which Companies Paid The Highest Price In 2025?
Alphabet again was at the top of the list. Google faced more than $4.2 billion in penalties during the year. Even that amount could clear inside 21 days and just over an hour using its reported free cash flow, according to Proton’s calculations.
One of the largest single penalties came from the European Union in September. Authorities fined Google $3.5bn for favouring its own digital advertising services. France also issued a $381 million sanction tied to Gmail advertising and cookie consent practices.
More from News
- New Research Reveals What (Or Who) The Actual Risks To Businesses Are In The AI Age
- UK Government Invests £36m To Make Supercomputing Centre 6 Times More Powerful
- Experts Share: How Will The 2026 Global Memory Shortage And GPU Rise Impact Industries?
- Golden Visas Used To Be A Pathway To The World’s Best Passports…But Not Anymore
- Researchers Are Reporting ChatGPT Using Grokipedia Answers
- SER Group Rebrands To ‘Doxis’ And Enhances Leadership To Reflect AI-First Focus As ‘The Document Intelligence Company’
- Are Businesses Ready To Face Rising Quantum Computing Security Threats?
- One in Three Ecommerce Brands Now Use AI Agents To Help Convert Sales
Amazon recorded the sharpest jump from one year earlier. Penalties rose from $57 million in 2024 to $2.5 billion in 2025, a rise of more than 4000%. The US action covered deceptive practices tied to Amazon Prime subscriptions, split between a $1bn fine and $1.5bn paid back to subscribers.
Apple accumulated $851 million across four actions in South Korea, France, Italy and the EU. Meta’s total reached $228 million after an EU decision on its pay or consent advertising model. Proton calculated that Meta could clear that amount in one day and 20 hours.
Do Rising Penalties Show Stronger Enforcement?
Total fines fell just over 7% compared to 2024, using Proton’s numbers. Supporters of the large platforms may read that as progress. The tracker paints a different picture, pointing to repeated breaches during the same period.
Apple paid €500 million in April for breaching Digital Markets Act duties tied to app stores. Proton notes that the same conduct continued later in the year.
Free cash flow numbers help explain why. MarketWatch data shows Apple generated $98.77bn across the 12 months ending September 30 2025, equal to $11.28m each hour. Alphabet produced $73.55bn, or $8.40m per hour. Amazon behind its peers at $10.56bn, still enough to absorb penalties without strain.
Digneaux argues that the pattern suits company budgets. “Big Tech is simply treating the fines as a cost of doing business, something expected and baked into company budgets,” he said. “We need actual change, not just press releases.”
Proton says regulators show intent through rising sanctions. The tracker also says intent alone will not reshape conduct. Stronger powers, together with tougher privacy protections, stand as the only tools that could make penalties carry real weight…
