Google to face modest EU antitrust fine for its adtech business

Google is reportedly expected to face an EU antitrust penalty in the coming weeks on allegations of anti-competitive practices in its adtech business.

A Reuters report citing three sources familiar with the matter indicates that Google will face a “modest” fine subsequently marking a shift in EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera’s stance on Big Tech violations from predecessor Margrethe Vestager’s heavy-handedness, focusing on harsh penalties.

The EU wants Google and peers to comply with regulations

This comes after a four-year long investigation which was a result of a complaint from the European Publishers Council, which led to charges against the search engine giant in 2023. The allegations levelled against Google were that it favoured its own advertising services ahead of its competitors.

According to the sources, Ribera’s focus is on getting tech firms to end anti-competitive practices as opposed to punishing them with hefty fines.

As a result, the fine is expected not to be in the scale of a record 4.3 billion euro that was imposed on Google by the bloc’s competition enforcer in 2018 over using its Android mobile operating system to suppress competitors.

Earlier in 2017, Google was also hit with a 2.42-billion-euro penalty for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European competitors.

In 2019, the search engine giant was slapped with a 1.49 billion euro fine for abusing its dominance to stop websites using brokers other than its AdSense platform.

The EU competition enforcer did not comment on the matter.

Google referred to a 2023 blog post in which it criticized the Commission for what it termed a flawed understanding of the adtech sector, adding that publishers and advertisers have vast options.

Last year, Google’s advertising revenue, including from search services, Google Play, Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Ad Manager, AdMob and AdSense reached $264 billion or 75.6% of total revenue. It is the world’s most dominant digital advertising platform.

Google won’t be forced to divest part of its adtech business

However, Reuters indicates that the company does not give out revenue figures for its adtech business which relates to advertising and not search. With the latest information coming out, Ribera is not expected to ask Google to dispose part of its adtech business although her predecessor had made such suggestions that the tech giant could divest its DoubleClick for Publishers tool and AdX ad exchange, according to what the sources revealed.

This is not the first instance in which Google is having a clash with EU over unfair practices. In July this year, a coalition of independent publishers lodged an antitrust complaint with the EU accusing the company of its dominant search position by using their material to power its AI Overviews without offering an opt‑out.

The publishers also sought an interim injunction, warning that continued use would inflict irreversible damage to their readership and revenues. Apart from this case, also earlier this year, a UK’s competition watchdog launched an investigation into the search engine giant’s dominance in search and search advertising.

With these and many other cases, Google has accused the EU of hampering innovation and tech firms from flourishing in the region because of tough rules, subsequently short-changing consumers.

Google’s sentiments are also echoed by others in the tech sector with a survey by European tech founders revealing widespread concerns over the bloc’s regulatory environment.

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