EU Launches New Google Antitrust Investigation

The European Commission (EC) has launched another investigation into the US Internet company Google. This time, he wants to find out if the company is restricting competition in the digital advertising technology market. This is by prioritizing its online advertising services over competing publishers, advertisers, and businesses that offer similar services. The Commission said this in a press release.

In particular, the Commission wants to assess whether Google restricts third parties’ access to user data for advertising purposes on websites and applications.

According to Alžběta Houzarová, a spokeswoman for Czech and Slovak Google, thousands of European companies use the company’s advertising products to reach new customers and finance their websites. “They choose our products because they are competitive and also effective. We will continue to have a constructive dialogue with the European Commission to answer their questions and demonstrate the benefits that our products bring to European companies and consumers,” she told CTK.

“Online advertising services are at the heart of how Google and publishers make money from their online services. Google collects data that it uses for specific advertising purposes, sells advertising space, and acts as an online advertising broker,” said the Vice-President of the European Commission. Margrethe Vestager, who is also in charge of the competition. “So Google is present at almost every level of the supply chain to display online advertising,” she added. The Commission is concerned that Google has made the competition more difficult for competing for online advertising services in the “ad tech stack” segment.

Google had $ 147 billion ($ 3.2 trillion) in online advertising revenue last year, more than any other company in the industry. Advertising on its tools, including search engine, YouTube, or Gmail, also contributed significantly to overall revenue and revenue.