According to the EU commission, Google had breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the advertising technology (adtech) industry. Meaning, Google favoured its own online adtech services over competing providers. 

The investigation found that Google displayed a preference for its own ad exchange – AdX – during auctions conducted by its ad server, DFP. According to the European Commission, they did this by informing AdX in advance of the value of the best bid made by its competitors, which it would have to beat to win the auction. 

Additionally, Google’s ad-buying tools, known as Google Ads and DV360, were found to place bids on these exchanges in a manner that favoured the company itself. Meaning Google Ads avoided competing exchanges by mainly placing bids on AdX.

The Commission’s statement on the matter read: “This leads to a situation of inherent conflicts of interest for Google. The Commission’s preliminary view is therefore that only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services would address its competition concerns.”

In the UK, the CMA has also opened an investigation in May last year into Google’s anti-competitive adtech practices, which is still ongoing. “We’re worried that Google may be using its position in ad tech to favour its own services to the detriment of its rivals, of its customers and ultimately of consumers,” said Andrea Coscelli, former chief executive of the CMA, at the time the investigation was launched.

Dan Taylor, Google’s vice president of Global Ads, responded in a statement, saying “The commission’s investigation focuses on a narrow aspect of our advertising business and is not new. We disagree with the EC’s view and we will respond accordingly.”

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According to Statistica, Google accounted for 34% of the digital advertising market last year, making $224bn (£176.6bn) from advertising revenue last year alone.

This is not the first time Google has been under fire by the EU. In 2017, European antitrust officials charged Google $2.7 billion (£2.1bn) for abusing search practices. In 2018 antitrust officials once again charged Google an initial $5bn (£3.9bn) for abusing the dominance of Android and Denying rivals a chance to innovate and compete on the merits. Finally in 2019, Google was fined another $1.7bn (£1.3bn) for stifling online advertising competition.