Alphabet Inc.’s Google was fined nearly $3.5 billion by the European Union and ordered to end practices that favour its own advertising technology services, escalating tensions with Washington and drawing renewed scrutiny of the company’s dominance in digital advertising.
The massive fine — the bloc’s second largest antitrust penalty after another Google fine in 2018 — follows a four-year-long probe into the internet giant’s practices.
The European Commission said Friday that Google abused its market power by giving preferential treatment to its ad exchanges over competitors.
The regulator gave the company 60 days to propose remedies but warned that structural measures, including a divestment of parts of the business, may be required.
“When markets fail, public institutions must act to prevent dominant players from abusing their power,” EU antitrust commissioner Teresa Ribera said. “True freedom means a level playing field, where everyone competes on equal terms and citizens have a genuine right to choose.”
The Alphabet (GOOGL) stock was mostly unaffected by the development.
The stock continued to trade in the green, up a modest 0.5% in the afternoon hours of trading on Friday.
Google’s response
Google said it would appeal the decision.
“This ruling imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, the company’s vice president for regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
The company’s ad-tech division, while no longer its largest driver of revenue, still accounted for about 10% of Google’s $71 billion in advertising sales in the second quarter.
The business underpins much of the buying and selling of digital ads that fund websites and apps across the internet.
EU-US tensions
The ruling lands at a sensitive moment for EU–US relations.
President Donald Trump has frequently criticised Brussels for targeting American technology firms.
Google is also facing pressure in the United States, where the Department of Justice is expected to submit proposed remedies later on Friday in its separate ad-tech case, ahead of a Sept. 22 hearing.
The DOJ has previously suggested forcing Google to divest its Ad Manager platform.
The EU’s action follows a 2023 warning that Google had harmed online publishers by favouring its own ad exchange program, strengthening its grip on the digital ad supply chain.
Ribera’s predecessor, Margrethe Vestager, had argued that only a mandatory divestment could resolve the competition concerns.
Over her decade-long tenure, Vestager imposed more than €8 billion in fines on Google across three cases, though EU courts later annulled one and reduced another.
The latest penalty adds to a string of regulatory battles facing the company worldwide as authorities intensify scrutiny of the role of dominant digital platforms.
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