The European Commission is investigating whether Google is using its dominance in advertising technology to influence the results of advertising auctions and increase the final cost of impressions for advertisers.
The European Commission is investigating whether Google is using its dominance in advertising technology to influence the results of advertising auctions and increase the final cost of impressions for advertisers.
According to Engadget, the regulator has not yet announced the formal opening of the case, but has already sent requests and started collecting information from advertisers, Google customers and competitors. In particular, the European Commission is interested in whether the company can influence the mechanics of auctions and artificially raise the so-called clearing price, that is, the price at which the auction is completed. If such suspicions are confirmed and the actions are recognized as a violation of competition rules, the fine could reach 10% of Google’s global annual turnover.
The article also notes that this is not the first time the EU has paid attention to the company’s advertising direction. In parallel, regulators have already considered other issues related to Google’s advertising practices, and in recent years the European Commission has been consistently strengthening supervision of large platforms, in particular through requirements for transparency and access by business users to data on advertising effectiveness and pricing.
Back in 2023, the European Commission officially announced previous claims about Google’s role as a seller, buyer and intermediary in the market. A new check on the price in auctions could be another direction of this package of claims.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how the European Commission has launched a new antitrust investigation against Google. The regulator is investigating whether the company is violating competition by using content from European media outlets and YouTube creators to train its AI services without fair payment and the right to refuse such use.
