Britain (Common Wealth) _ Alphabet’s Google was charged with anti-competitive actions in its digital advertising business by EU antitrust regulators on Wednesday, and the company may have to sell a portion of this business to address their concerns.
The European Commission issued a declaration of complaints two years after initiating an investigation into the incident. Google is the world’s most dominant digital advertising platform, accounting for 28% of worldwide ad revenue.
The Commission is concerned that Google favors its own online display advertising technology services over other providers of advertising technology services, advertisers, and online publishers, according to a statement issued by the EU competition enforcer.
It claimed that Google had abused its authority since 2014 by favoring its own ad exchange AdX in the ad selection auction run by its dominant publisher ad server DFP, as well as by favoring its ad exchange AdX in the way its ad buying tools Google Ads and DV360 place bids on ad exchanges.
According to the EU competition watchdog, a behavioral remedy to address anti-competitive activities is unlikely to be effective. “The Commission’s preliminary view is thus that only Google’s mandatory divestment of a portion of its services would suffice.”
According to the Commission’s preliminary assessment, only Google’s obligatory disposal of a portion of its services will address the Commission’s competition concerns.
According to research firm Insider Intelligence, Google is the most dominating digital advertising platform in the world, with a 28% market share of worldwide ad income.
Its advertising revenues in 2022, which include those from its search services, Gmail, Google Play, Google Maps, YouTube ads, Google Ad Manager, AdMob, and AdSense, totaled $224.5 billion, accounting for 79% of total revenues.
Google attempted to resolve the issue three months after the EU agency launched its inquiry, but authorities became unhappy with the slow pace and lack of major concessions, according to a person familiar with the subject.
