The European Commission has launched a formal antitrust investigation into Google, looking into whether the company is breaking EU competition rules by favoring its own online services projectionof advertisements in relation to similar offers from competitors.
In one statement, the European Commission said the formal investigation will examine whether Google has foreclosed competition by restricting third parties (advertisers, publishers or competing online ad serving intermediaries) from accessing data users for advertising purposes on websites and applications, while simultaneously retaining this data for its own use.
"Η Google συλλέγει δεδομένα για χρήση σε στοχευμένους διαφημιστικούς σκοπούς, πωλεί διαφημιστικό χώρο και λειτουργεί επίσης σαν on-lineς διαφημιστικός διαμεσολαβητής. Επομένως, η Google είναι παρούσα σε σχεδόν όλα τα επίπεδα της αλυσίδας για διαδικτυακές προβολές διαφημίσεων", ανέφερε η εκτελεστική αντιπρόεδρος της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής Margrethe Vestager.
"Ανησυχούμε για το αν η Google έχει καταστήσει πιο δύσκολο για ανταγωνιστικές διαδικτυακές διαφημιστικές υπηρεσίες να ανταγωνίζονται το λεγόμενο ad tech stack. Οι ίσοι όροι ανταγωνισμού είναι ουσιαστικής σημασίας για όλους στην αλυσίδα".
Specifically, the research will look at how Google uses some of the ad serving services, such as Display & Video 360 (DV360), Google Ads, AdX, and Doubleclick ID.
The committee will also look at Google's announced plans to remove third-party cookies in Chrome and replace them with the Privacy Sandbox, as well as pending changes to advertising IDs on Android.
If Google is found to be favoring its own online ad serving services over others, the company could potentially face fines for violating Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. mode of the European Union, which prohibit the abuse of a dominant position for competitive agreements that prevent, restrict or distort competition within the EU.
Google is also facing three antitrust lawsuits in the United States accusing the company of abusing its market power on several occasions. The allegations against Google range from rearranging search results to eliminating competition, colluding with Facebook to manipulate the digital ad market, and anti-competitiveness in digital ad markets.
