EU fines Google €2.95 billion for violating competition rules in advertising

The European Union (EU) fined technology company Google 2.95 billion euros for violating competition rules in its digital advertising activities.

The EU Commission announced that its investigation into the US firm Google for violating EU competition rules in the advertising technology sector (adtech) has been completed.

The statement said Google had violated the rules by providing favoritism to its online advertising technology services over its competitors, and that the company had been fined 2.95 billion euros for this reason.

The statement also stated that the EU Commission had ordered Google to end its own preference practices and eliminate conflicts of interest in its advertising technology supply chain, and that the company must officially notify the EU of the steps it will take in this regard within 60 days.

The EU, which launched a competition investigation into Google in 2021 due to advertisements, accused the company in 2023 of violating competition rules in its digital advertising activities.

The EU, which alleged that Google had abused its position in advertising markets and selection since 2014 to favour its services, allowing the company to charge higher fees for the services it offered, had stated that these behaviours constituted a violation of EU rules prohibiting the abuse of a dominant market position.

The EU Commission has the authority to inspect companies operating in EU countries to determine whether there is an anti-competitive situation in their sectors.

The Commission is assessing whether there is any anti-competitive situation in these investigations.

If situations that harm competition are detected, the EU Commission puts an end to this situation and imposes high fines on companies.

The EU has fined Google over €8 billion in various competition investigations in the past.

There were reports that the fine in question was planned to be announced earlier, but it was blocked by EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic on the grounds that it would harm EU-US trade relations.