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The EU antitrust enforcer on Friday walloped US tech giant Google with a €2.95 billion fine for self-preferencing its ad exchange tool “AdX”, while dominating the market with its publisher ad server and its ad buying tools.
“Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate to impose strong remedies,” EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a statement, adding: “Digital markets exist to serve people and must be grounded in trust and fairness.”
Google now has 60 days to put an end to its practices deemed anti-competitive. The Commission opened its formal proceedings Google’s conduct in the online advertising technology sector in June 2021.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, the firm’s vice President, said in a statement that the fine was “unjustified” and that the changes required “will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money.”
The company announced on Friday that it will appeal the Commission’s decision.
This decision comes amid heightened tensions with the US administration, as US president Donald Trump recently threatened the EU with tariffs if it were to target US Big Tech companies again.
Trade tensions
MLex reported earlier in the week that EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič postponed the Google Ad Tech decision from being published to avoid the US president’s ire.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to Euronews that the fine had been postponed at the initiative of Bjoern Seibert, the powerful chief of staff to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
In the event the fine imposed on the US tech giant is substantial.
“True freedom means a level playing field, where everyone competes on equal terms and citizens have a genuine right to choose,” the EU commissioner said.
The decision risks further straining EU-US relations, just as the two sides have concluded a controversial trade deal after weeks of exhausting negotiations.
The agreement set US tariffs at 15% on EU imports into the US market, in exchange for the EU opening its market widely to US products with 0% tariffs. But its implementation is not over, since the US administration has still not reduced the 27.5% tariffs applied to EU cars down to 15%, as promised.
Exemptions to the deal are also still under negotiation and the agreement must still pass through the gauntlet of scrutiny by both MEPs and EU member states.
On Wednesday, Members of the European Parliament denounced the trade agreement as unbalanced, the Commission defending itself by repeating that it had little choice in the face of a US administration determined to implement a new aggressive tariff policy.
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