The European Union authorities announced this Wednesday (14) that advertising business. Google should be separated, the claim that the tech giant is involved in many parts of the digital advertising supply chain creates an “internal conflict of interest” that threatens competition..

The legal allegations represent Google’s latest antitrust challenge over its vast ad tech business, following a lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice in January that also called for the company to break up.

The European Union Commission has filed written charges against Google, initiating a lawsuit that could result in billionaire fines in addition to a possible section that could affect a substantial portion of its advertising business.

Since 2014, Google has unfairly favored its own proprietary ad exchange, known as AdX, while owning some of the most popular advertising tools for advertisers and publishers, according to the commission. One example cited by the commission is redirecting ad purchases made by advertisers using Google’s buying tools to AdX rather than other competing ad exchanges.

Also, Google’s publisher-focused tools would give AdX an unfair advantage over competing ad exchanges. According to the commission, Google’s tools provided AdX with sensitive information about competitive bids, helping the platform win auctions.

One solution proposed by the panel is to separate the Google Ad Exchange and publisher tools from the ad buying tools provided to advertisers.

Government blames Google

Margrethe Vestager, a senior official with the competition commission, tweeted her concerns:Google controls both sides of the #adtech market: selling and buying. We are concerned that he may have abused his dominant position in favor of his own #AdX platform. If this is confirmed, it will be illegal.“

In response, Dan Taylor, Google’s vice president of global advertising, said the European Union investigation “focuses on a limited aspect of our advertising business“, disagreeing with the panel’s preliminary findings and stating that Google plans to “answer correctly“.

A Google spokesperson told CNN that the company had just received the commission’s complaint and that it would take time to process it. Google also said it would oppose calls for a split.

These accusations and the possible collapse of Google’s advertising business demonstrate an ongoing worldwide movement to regulate and oversee the antitrust practices of large technology companies in order to maintain fair competition in the digital marketplace.

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Source: CNN

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