BRUSSELS —
Google was in the EU antitrust
spotlight again on Tuesday as regulators opened an investigation into whether
its digital advertising business gives the Alphabet unit an unfair advantage
over rivals and advertisers.
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The
European Union competition enforcer's move marks a new
front against Google and follows more than 8 billion euros ($9.5 billion) in
fines over the past decade for blocking rivals in online shopping, Android
smartphones and online advertising.
The European Commission said it would investigate whether
Google distorts competition by restricting third party access to user data for
advertising purposes on websites and apps, while reserving such data for its
own use.
"We are concerned that Google has made it harder for
rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech
stack," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a
statement.
Google generated $147 billion in revenue from online ads
last year, more than any other company in the world, with ads including search,
YouTube and Gmail accounting for the bulk of its overall sales and profits.
About 16 percent of its revenue came from the company's
display or network business, in which other media companies use Google
technology to sell ads on their website and apps.
"We will also be looking at Google's policies on user
tracking to make sure they are in line with fair competition," Vestager
added.
Google said it would 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 Google
spokesperson said.
The Commission said its investigation would span Google
services, including Display & Video 360 (DV360) and Google Ads to buy
online display advertisements on YouTube, Google Ad Manager which is used by
publishers to auction ad space, and AdX which is one of several marketplaces
which can manage auctions.
Google's plan to remove browser cookies and also to stop
tracking Android users via a tool known as an advertising identifier will also
be looked at.
Reuters reported exclusively last week that the EU
competition enforcer would investigate Google's digital advertising business
before the end of the year.
Google's adtech business is also under fire in the United
States, with the Justice Department, joined by some states, suing last year for
abusing its dominance in search ads. A group of states led by Texas in a later
lawsuit focused on anti-competitive behavior on the network side of the house.
A new EU inquiry could end up targeting all of Google's ad
empire. According to market researcher eMarketer, Google could control 27
percent of global online ad spending this year, including 57 percent for search
ads and 10 percent of display.
While the figures may not appear to represent a monopoly at
first glance, advertisers and rivals contend that Google's various software
play a role in so many facets of the market that the company is impossible to
avoid.
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