The European Commission has fined Google €2.95 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules related to anti-competitive practices in the ad tech industry. Regulators found Google favoured its own online display advertising technology, harming rival services, advertisers, and publishers.
The Commission's investigation, launched in 2021, concluded Google abused its dominant position by favouring its AdX advertising exchange. This shielded Google from competition and allowed them to charge higher fees. Google has been ordered to cease its 'self-preferencing' practices and address conflicts of interest within its advertising technology supply chain. Google plans to appeal the decision, arguing it is unjustified and will negatively impact European businesses.
This is the fourth time the EU has fined Google for abusing its market dominance. The Commission previously signaled that only the divestment by Google of a part of its services would address the situation of inherent conflicts of interest.
