Google’s adtech services probe

EU opens probe into Google’s adtech services

Investigation focuses on the internet giant’s use of user data in the market for online display advertising.

BY SIMON VAN DORPE

The European Commission announced Tuesday that it opened an investigation into whether Google favors its own advertising services to the detriment of rivals.

The probe will focus on the multi-layered market of display advertising and whether the search giant restricted access to user data for rivals while using it to its own profit. Google is present throughout the entire "adtech" supply chain — collecting data, selling advertising space and acting as an online advertising intermediary.

"We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

This is Vestager's fourth competition probe into Google, which was previously fined €2.42 billion for favoring its own shopping service, €4.34 billion over its Android operating system and €1.49 billion in online search advertising (AdSense).

The Commission will investigate a broad range of Google practices related to its display advertising, including obligations to use certain Google products such as "Display & Video 360," Google Ad Manager, but also Google's Privacy Sandbox and restrictions placed by the U.S. tech giant on the ability of third parties to access data.

"Google is present at almost all levels of the supply chain for online display advertising," Vestager said. "We will also be looking at Google's policies on user tracking to make sure they are in line with fair competition.“

Google said it will “continue to engage constructively” with the Commission. “Thousands of European businesses use our advertising products to reach new customers and fund their websites every single day. They choose them because they’re competitive and effective,” a company spokesperson said.

Brussels started its preliminary investigation at the end of 2019 with very broad questions about Google and Facebook's data gathering practices. POLITICO reported in January that the Commission had split the case into two separate cases, one focused on adtech and one on data.

The Commission said today that in its probe it will “take into account the need to protect user privacy, in accordance with EU laws in this respect, such as the General Data Protection Regulation.”