EU slaps Google with $3.5 billion fine over adtech abuse
Google has 60 days to stop this practice and fix it.
The European Commission just slapped Google with an eyebrow-raising fine: €2.95 billion (about $3.5 billion).
The reason? Brussels says Google was playing favorites in the world’s most invisible but lucrative battlefield: online ads.
According to the Commission, Google “abused its dominant positions” by giving its own ad exchange, AdX, the digital equivalent of VIP access across its publisher ad server and ad-buying tools.
That, the EU says, isn’t just a bad look, it’s straight-up anticompetitive.
Google now has 60 days to stop this practice and cook up a “serious remedy” to fix what officials call its “conflicts of interest” in the ad supply chain.
Translation: stop being judge, jury, and auctioneer in the same marketplace.
“Digital markets exist to serve people and must be grounded in trust and fairness,” said Commission VP Teresa Ribera, laying down some mom-energy.
“When markets fail, public institutions must act.” In other words, play nice or Europe will ground you.
Google, unsurprisingly, isn’t exactly thrilled.
The company told The Wall Street Journal it will appeal, arguing that nothing anticompetitive is happening and that advertisers have plenty of options besides Google’s services.
Conveniently, the announcement was also delayed from September 1, because, of course, EU officials didn’t want to drop a multi-billion-euro bomb right in the middle of sensitive trade talks with Washington.
This fine now ranks as the EU’s second-largest antitrust penalty ever against Google, behind the $5 billion hit in 2018.
The backlash wasn’t limited to Mountain View: Donald Trump popped up on Truth Social to decry what he called unfair punishment of “brilliant American ingenuity,” threatening to launch a Section 301 trade offensive if Brussels doesn’t cool it.
He later hosted a dinner with tech execs, including Google’s Sundar Pichai and Sergey Brin, who, between the steak and the policy praise, seemed happy enough.
Still, Google isn’t entirely on defense.
Back home, a US judge recently ruled the company did monopolize search, but stopped well short of the DOJ’s dream breakup of Chrome.
Is the EU’s $3.5 billion fine against Google’s ad practices justified, or are these penalties becoming excessive punishment for American tech success? Should companies be allowed to prioritize their own services within their platforms, or does this create unfair advantages that stifle competition? Tell us below in the comments, or reach us via our Twitter or Facebook.
