European antitrust enforcer accuses Google of stifling advertising tech competition

Google antitrust accusations overview: 

• Who: The European Commission (EC) has accused Google of favoring its own online display advertising services. 
• Why: The EC says Google may have to sell some of its own digital advertising services to resolve its alleged attempt at monopolizing the market. 
• Where: Nationwide.

The European Commission (EC), Europe’s antitrust enforcer, has accused the multinational technology company Google of favoring its own online display advertising services as part of an alleged effort to dismantle competition in the advertising technology space. 

The EC said Google may end up having to sell some of its services as a way to resolve the alleged problem, Law360 reports. 

The EC has reportedly already levied £8 billion in fines against Google over its allegedly anticompetitive conduct, with its latest action being its fourth statement of objection in total. 

The EC reportedly said it is concerned Google “may have used its market position to favor its own intermediation services.” 

“Not only did this possibly harm Google’s competitors but also publishers’ interests, while also increasing advertisers’ costs,” Margrethe Vestager, EC’s executive vice president for competition policy, said in a statement.

If confirmed, Google’s practices would be illegal under our competition rules,” the European Commission’s concerns about Google mirrored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and a number of state-level enforcers

The DOJ — along with a number of state-level enforcers — have also raised concerns about Google allegedly attempting to corner the market in the advertising tech space, Law360 reports. 

The DOJ and other state-level enforcers reportedly currently have pending lawsuits against Google over concerns related to its advertising technology practices. 

Google has been accused of using its dominance in the advertising technology space to favor its own ad exchange, called AdX, by allowing it to place bids on ad sell space after all bidders, and by informing it in advance of the highest competing bid, according to Law360. 

On the buy side, Google is reportedly accused of having AdX pretty much only bid on its own ads, instead of trying to place advertisements on as many exchanges as possible. 

“By doing so, Google managed to make AdX the most attractive marketplace,” Vestager said. “This gave it a significant competitive advantage over rival ad exchanges.”

A class action lawsuit was filed against Google earlier this year over claims the tech company violated competition laws and and harmed rival website and application publishers by trying to monopolize the digital advertising technology market. 

Do you believe Google has attempted to monopolize the advertising technology space? Let us know in the comments!

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