The European Commission announced this week that Google is fined 2.95 billion euros (just under $3.5 billion).
The committee found that Google violated the European Union’s antitrust rules by supporting its own advertising services. Specifically, the committee said Google “abuses” the “dominant position” by supporting ad exchange ADX on both publisher ad servers and ad purchasing tools.
The committee also said Google has 60 days to “end these self-presenting practices” and 60 days to “implement measures to stop the inherent conflict of interest along the Adtech supply chain.”
“Google must take serious remedies to address conflicts of interest, or we will not be able to impose strong remedies,” said Teresa Ribera, executive vice president of the committee’s Clean, Just and competitive transition. “Digital markets must exist to serve people and be based on trust and equity. And if the market fails, public institutions must act to prevent dominant players from abuse their power.”
In response, a Google spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that the company appealed the committee’s decision, adding, “We are anti-competitive in providing services to advertising buyers and sellers, and there is a more alternative to the service than ever.”
The WSJ reports that the announcement was delayed from the September 1st planning date due to concerns over continuing negotiations over potential trade contracts between the European Union and the US.
This is the EU’s second largest anti-trust fine (behind the 2018 $5 billion fine against Google). The decision was criticized not only by Google, but US President Donald Trump, who complained at the True Social Post about “many other fines and taxes issued against Google and other American tech companies,” such as Apple.
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“We cannot make this into brilliant and unprecedented American ingenuity. If so, I will be forced to launch Section 301 to override the unfair penalties accused of these tax-paying American companies,” Trump said.
The president held a dinner that aired on Thursday. There, high-tech executives, including Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google co-founder Sergey Brin, praised Trump’s policies, particularly around AI.
Meanwhile, Google appeared to have won an anti-trust victory in the US this week. A federal judge previously determined that the company had acted illegally to maintain its monopoly in online searches, but his remedies were far below the Justice Department’s proposal for the company to sell Chrome and potentially Android.
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