The EU has launched a formal antitrust investigation against Google to assess whether Google has violated EU regulations and favored its own online display advertising technology services, thereby harming the interests of competitors.
In addition, the European Union will also investigate whether Google unfairly prevented competitors from accessing user data, as well as Google’s privacy changes, which will gradually eliminate advertisers’ access to some cookies and data.
The European Commission said in a statement today that the investigation will also assess whether Google “restricts third-party access to user data while leaving such data for its own use, thereby distorting competition.”
EU Antitrust Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said: “Online advertising services are at the core of how Google and publishers monetize their online services. Google almost exists in the online display advertising supply chain. At all levels, we are worried that Google makes it difficult for competitors’ online advertising services to compete in the field of advertising technology.”
This is the first time that the European Union has directly investigated the “black box” of online advertising, that is when a user clicks on a web page, Google automatically calculates and provides advertising space and prices to advertisers and publishers. Previously, the EU’s investigation focused on shopping search advertising, mobile phone advertising and advertising contracts.
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In response, Google said in an e-mail statement that it will “continue to engage in constructive contact with the European Commission, answer their questions, and show the benefits of our products to European companies and consumers.” Google also said: “There are numbers every day. Thousands of European companies use our advertising products to reach new customers. They choose our advertising services because they are competitive and efficient.”
In fact, there were reports last Thursday that the EU antitrust regulator will launch a formal investigation into Google’s advertising technology. Earlier this year, the European Commission sent a questionnaire to Google competitors and third parties. In the questionnaire, EU regulators asked advertisers whether they received rebates when they used Google as an intermediary. Google mediation allows advertisers or media organizations to purchase advertising inventory from many sources.
Vestag said in March this year that Google’s advertising business is facing a “large-scale investigation.” Vestag said: “We will make the most of every tool we have and take necessary antitrust actions to ensure that the market is fair.”
Last year, Google earned $147 billion in revenue through online advertising, more than any other company in the world. Obviously, the European Commission’s investigation will pose a serious threat to Google. The European Commission stated that in 2019, the European Union’s digital advertising spending was approximately 20 billion euros (approximately 24 billion U.S. dollars). The EU fines are based on sales, with a ceiling of 10% of annual income
Prior to this, the European Union had imposed a total of more than 9 billion euros on Google in three antitrust cases, namely the Google Shopping monopoly, the Google Android monopoly and the Google AdSense monopoly.
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