EU Hits Google with 2.95bn Euro Fine for Adtech Abuse

The European Commission (EU) has fined Google 2.95 billion euro ($3.47bn) for abusing its dominant position in online advertising and favouring its own ad services. The ruling orders Google to stop practices that the commission says gave its AdX exchange unfair advantage and to propose remedies within 60 days. Google said it will appeal.

The commission found that Google used its ad server and demand tools to advantage its own exchange by sharing bid information with AdX and by structuring auctions to favour its products. EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said the behaviour harmed publishers, advertisers and consumers and violated EU antitrust law. She added that structural remedies may be required if Google cannot propose an effective plan.

Google rejected the assessment and called the decision wrong. A Google statement said the ruling will hurt many European businesses and that offering services to both buyers and sellers is lawful. The company pointed to a range of competing adtech options and vowed to challenge the commission in court.

The move is in response to recent United States and European legal pressure against Google practices. Only recently a US federal court ordered remedies in a similar adtech case and other regulators have fined various violations. Failure by the commission to submit a credible compliance proposal will result in the additional actions, the commission warned.

Associations representing industry members who lodged complaints celebrated the fine but said there will be need to enforce it more vigorously in the AI era to contain market concentration. According to the commission, it will oversee the market and take necessary action to bring about healthy competition.

Google has been given a deadline to reveal how it would modify its adtech operations and to show how its plan would eliminate the conflicts of interest identified by the commission.