EU Commission Fines Google €2.95 Billion Over Ad Tech Practices

The EU Commission fined Google €2.95 billion (approximately $3.5 billion) today for breaching EU competition rules and abusing its dominant position in the online advertising industry. This is the result of an investigation that started back in 2021, and the EU Commission had already fined Google back in 2018 in the past for abusing its dominant position.

Following its long investigation, the EU Commission determined that Google favored its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of its competitors, online advertisers, and publishers. Google’s adtech services include the ad buying tools Google Ads and DV 360, the publisher ad server DoubleClick For Publishers (DFP), and the ad exchange platform AdX.

“Google abused its power by favouring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of its competitors, online advertisers and publishers,” said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. “As a result of Google’s illegal practices, advertisers faced higher marketing costs which they likely passed on to European consumers in the form of higher prices for products and services. Google’s tactics also reduced revenues for publishers, which may have led to lower service quality and higher subscription costs for consumers.”

Ribera emphasized that “Google’s illegal practices lasted over 10 years” and had a negative impact on all EU citizens in their daily use of the web. While Google has 60 days to inform the Commission on how it plans to stop its illegal self-preferencing practices i the adtech industry. If the company fails to do so, the EU Commission may “impose an appropriate remedy, Ribera said.

The EU Commission’s executive vice president added that “At this stage, it appears that the only way for Google to end its conflict of interest effectively is with a structural remedy, such as selling some part of its Adtech business.” Google said that it will appeal the decision and the fine in a statement shared with the Wall Street Journal. “There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s global head of regulatory affairs.