EU fines Google $3.5B over adtech ‘abuse’

The European Commission announced this week that it’s fining Google €2.95 billion (just under $3.5 billion).

The commission found that Google had violated European Union antitrust rules by favoring its own advertising services. Specifically, the commission said Google “abused” its “dominant positions” by favoring its ad exchange AdX in both its publisher ad server and in its ad-buying tools.

The commission also said Google has 60 days to “bring these self-preferencing practices to an end” and “to implement measures to cease its inherent conflicts of interest along the adtech supply chain.”

“Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate to impose strong remedies,” said Teresa Ribera, the commission’s executive vice president for clean, just and competitive transition, in a statement. “Digital markets exist to serve people and must be grounded in trust and fairness. And when markets fail, public institutions must act to prevent dominant players from abusing their power.”

In response, a Google spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the company would appeal the commission’s decision, adding, “There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before.”

The WSJ reports that the announcement was delayed from a planned date of September 1, reportedly due to concerns over the European Union and United States’ continuing negotiations over a potential trade deal.

This is the EU’s second largest antitrust fine ever (behind a $5 billion fine against Google in 2018). The decision was criticized not just by Google, but also by U.S. President Donald Trump, who complained in a Truth Social post about the “many other Fines and Taxes that have been issued against Google and other American Tech Companies” such as Apple.

“We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” Trump said.

The president hosted a televised dinner on Thursday, where tech executives including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google co-founder Sergey Brin praised Trump’s policies, particularly around AI.

Google, meanwhile, appeared to score an antitrust victory in the United States this week. Although a federal judge had previously ruled that the company had acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, his remedies fell far short of Justice Department proposals for the company to sell Chrome and potentially even Android.