On February 11, 2022, the European Publishers Council (EPC) announced deposit a complaint against Google to the European Commission. The publishers claim that Google has an unfair hold on the press.
Council of European Publishers wants to end Google’s stranglehold on ad tech
In its official statement, the Council of European Publishers states that it wants “break the ad tech stranglehold that Google currently has on news publishers and all other companies in the ad tech ecosystem”. The Council asks the European Commission to hold Google responsible for its anti-competitive behavior and impose remedies to restore the conditions for effective competition in the value chain. Christian Van Thillo, president of the EPC believes that it is “high time for the European Commission to impose measures on Google that really change its behavior”.
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The Council of European Publishers ensures that this anti-competitive behavior continues to cause considerable harm, not only to European press publishers, but also to all advertisers and ultimately to consumers, who pay more and more for information, who have less choice, and who benefit from less innovation. Christian Van Thillo clarifies “competition authorities around the world have found that Google has restricted competition in ad tech”. For the Council of European Publishers, for the future viability of funding a free and pluralistic pressThis situation can not continue.
Google controls the entire value chain, to the detriment of press publishers
In its complaint, the EPC accuses Google of having wanted “crowding out the competition in ad tech”with the acquisition of DoubleClick in 2008. A profitable strategy since Google today masters the ad tech value chain from start to finish, with a market share approaching 100%. Simply put, Google represents both buyer and seller in the same transaction. A situation that allows the American giant to “Privilege its own interests at the expense of the customers it is supposed to serve”.
This complaint could prompt the European Commission to take action. It’s a fight that Google must also face in the United States. The Daily Mail has accused the American giant of manipulating search results in Search, as well as advertising auctions to the detriment of press publishers… In a statement to respond to the Council of European Publishers, Google said companies “appreciated its advertising technology”, but did not address issues of unfair competition. A representative of the Mountain View company specifies that the publishers keep the majority of the income.