Google Sued For Unfair Advertising In Europe By Publishers

The European Publishers Council (EPC) has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google for its “uncompetitive” advertising practices, alleging the tech giant unfairly controls the market through Google Ads.

According to Pocketnow, the council said Google gives its own advertising tools preferential treatment, at the detriment of third-party services and advertisers. It claims the company has “monopolized virtually every step of the advertising technology value chain.” 

“It’s high time for the European Commission to impose measures on Google that actually change, not just challenge, its behavior,” said EPC Chairman, Christian van Thillo. 

“Google has achieved end-to-end control of the ad tech value chain, boasting market shares as high as 90-100% in segments of the ad tech chain,” he added, as per Reuters.

Additionally, the agency is taking issue with Google’s future plans to remove third-party cookies from its Chrome web browser, which it says could reduce publishers’ revenue by over 70%.

In response, as per Engadget, the brand said companies kept the “majority of revenue” amounting to “billions,” though it did not address the allegations of unfair competition. 

The European Union began its investigation of Google’s advertising model in June 2021, with the company already being fined three times over its practices.

For now, it remains to be seen if the ongoing probe will force the company to make any substantial change to their advertising practices in the near future.

[via Pocketnow and Engadget, cover image via Proxima Studio / Shutterstock.com]