The EU Commission imposes a punishment of 2.95 billion euros due to violations of competitive rules in the advertising business.
The US group preferred its own online advertising services to the disadvantage of competing providers, said the Brussels authority. Google described the decision as wrong and wants to appeal. The punishment triggered a harsh reaction from US President Donald Trump, who threatened new tariffs against the EU.
According to the Commission, Google occupies a dominant position with its products. The group has abused this since 2014 to give its own products an advantage. As a result, Google violated Article 102 of the Treaty on the working method of the European Union.
EU criticizes conflict of interest in Google’s business model
According to the Brussels authority, Google’s business model creates a conflict of interest: the tech company switches advertising on the one hand on the own website and applications, but also conveys between advertisers and those who provide the space online. The company has its own marketplace ADX for the mediation of the advertising sites. The company also offers programs that automatically can find advertisers.
Specifically, the accusation is: Google preferred the advertiser and the provider: inside of advertising spaces, advised their own marketplace ADX. This led to higher costs, which were also passed on to consumers. The EU Commission is now asking Google not to prefer itself – and goes even further: At the moment, it looks that separation from part of the advertising business is the only way to clear up the conflict of interest.
In the United States, the US government just failed in court with an attempt to force Google to split off the web browser Chrome and the Mobile System Android.
Google has 60 days – and counters
Advertising is the central source of income from Google and the parent company Alphabet. The company has 60 days to inform the Commission on how the business model should be adapted according to the requirements.
Google countered that the fine was unjustified and the changes requested would “harm thousands of European companies” because they make their business difficult. “The provision of services for advertising fund: inside and seller: inside is by no means contrary to competitive, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever,” it said.
Trump is acidic
The punishment could now also have political consequences. US President Donald Trump criticized her as the next blow against “a great American company”. He will be forced to initiate a procedure for new tariffs if US companies were asked to checkout, Trump wrote on his online platform Truth Social.
Specifically, the President threatened an investigation based on Article 301 of US trade law, which provides tariffs in response to unfair trade practices. The EU and the US government had only agreed on a comprehensive trade agreement in July, the details of which are just clarified. Among other things, the Europeans accepted a general US custom of 15 percent to their goods.
Trump had recently threatened with additional tariffs for countries that US technology companies attack. He was concerned with digital regulations that he sees critically. The US government has been calling for changes to the strict EU digital laws, which, for example, are to prevent the spread of false information via platforms such as X and also affect companies such as Amazon, Apple, Meta (Facebook), Alphabet (Google) and Microsoft.
The EU Commission is already repeating Google repeatedly
The Vice President of the EU Commission, Teresa Ribera, announced that the EU would enforce its rules consistently and without fear or preference. Laws and basic values of the EU are not up for debate. Andreas Schwab (CDU), a member of the EPP parliamentary group in the European Parliament, criticized the punishment as too low in order to achieve real deterrence.
The Federal Association of Digital Publisher and Newspapers (BDZV) described the decision as a victory for the European digital industry-especially against the background of the threats of US President Trump to collect further tariffs in measures against US companies. “With today’s decision, the Commission has made it clear that it cannot be put off by such threats. This is an important sign, not only for digital sovereignty, also for the European rule of law. The Commission was not bent,” praised the association.
The EU Commission has already occupied Google and Alphabet with several competitive penalty of around eight billion euros since 2018. The group quickly digested them. The highest penalty so far was available at a good four billion euros because of the business with the Google operating system Android.