European Commission accuses Google of antitrust violations in ad services

The European Commission formally notified Google of its preliminary finding that the tech giant has violated EU antitrust regulations by favouring its own online display advertising technology (ad tech) services, thereby harming competitors.

In the European market, Google's ad tech tools, namely DoubleClick For Publishers (DFP), Google Ads and 'DV360' (its ad-buying tools), maintain a dominant position. This is the focal point of concern for the EU. The alleged misconduct by Google is seen as a violation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position.

It is worth noting that Google's ad tech business has already faced scrutiny in the United States earlier this year. The US Department of Justice asserted that Google's anti-competitive practices "forced key competitors to abandon the market for ad tech tools, dissuaded potential competitors from joining the market, and left Google's few remaining competitors marginalised and unfairly disadvantaged". It is reasonable to assume that such practices could have similar repercussions in the EU and other regions.

According to the European Commission, the only viable approach to address this conflict is to take action against Google's alleged antitrust violations in the ad tech sector. The investigation will continue, affording Google the opportunity to respond to the preliminary findings and present its defence. If the Commission's concerns are substantiated, Google could potentially face severe penalties and be required to modify its business practices in order to restore fair competition within the European ad tech market.