After the European Commission fined Alphabet’s Google (GOOG) €2.95 billion (USD $3.5 billion) on Friday for breaching EU antitrust rules, the ruling immediately drew the ire of President Trump.
The European Commission accused Google of allegedly favoring its own advertising technology (adtech) over competing providers of adtech services, advertisers and online publishers.
The Commission has ordered Google to end “self-preferencing practices” and to implement measures that end “its inherent conflicts of interest along the adtech supply chain.”
In its ruling, the Commission noted that Google offers two ad-buying tools (Google Ads and DV 360) as well as a publisher ad server called DoubleClick For Publishers (DFP) and an ad exchange called AdX.
Among the complaints made by regulators was that Google favored AdX in the way Google Ads and DV360 placed bids on ad exchanges, making AdX the most attractive ad exchange.
The Commission accused Google of implementing these practices since at least 2014. European regulators opened their investigation into the company's advertising practices in 2021.
Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for the Commission’s Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, said that Google “abused its dominant position in adtech harming publishers, advertisers, and consumers” and warned that regulators would “impose strong remedies” if the company doesn’t change its practices.
“Digital markets exist to serve people and must be grounded in trust and fairness,” Ribera said. “And when markets fail, public institutions must act to prevent dominant players from abusing their power.”
President Trump slammed the European Commission’s fine, calling Google a “great American company” in a post on Truth Social, vowing that his administration “will NOT allow these discriminatory actions to stand.”
“This is on top of the many other Fines and Taxes that have been issued against Google and other American Tech Companies, in particular,” Trump said. “Very unfair, and the American Taxpayer will not stand for it!”
Trump, who also referred to fines that the EU has levied against Apple (AAPL), threatened to start a Section 301 proceeding, which investigates possible unfair foreign trade practices that can hurt U.S. commerce – and which the U.S. government can respond to by imposing tariffs or other trade restrictions.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president, global head of regulatory affairs for Google, released a statement saying that the company would appeal the Commission’s decision.
“It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money," she said. "There's nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before."
Google’s sketchy adtech
However, despite drawing the ire of Trump, it’s not just foreign regulators who are accusing Google of anticompetitive practices with its adtech services.
Advertising exchange PubMatic, Inc. (PUBM) sued Google on Monday, alleging “years-long harm caused by Google’s proven and repeated monopolistic and anticompetitive behavior in certain digital advertising markets.”
The lawsuit follows a U.S. District Court’s ruling in April that found Google had “willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising.”
PubMatic accused Google of depriving publishers and advertisers the benefits of fair competition, which caused damage to consumers by charging higher advertising fees.
“Google’s systematic abuse of its vast resources and immense power has harmed our business and distorted a marketplace that should have rewarded innovation and fueled transparency and competition,” PubMatic’s co-founder and CEO Rajeev GoelInstead said. “Instead, anticompetitive practices limited monetization for publishers, raised costs for advertisers, and ultimately reduced choice for consumers.”
OpenX Technologies, another ad exchange, sued Google in August, also accusing the tech giant of anticompetitive practices with its adtech services.
And a group of U.S. states have also sued Google over alleged antitrust violations with its advertising technology.
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