The EU Commission has
fined Google €2.95 billion for abusing its dominant position in the
online advertising market by favoring its own ad exchange and ad buying tools over competitors, which violates EU antitrust law. This is the fourth time Google has been fined by EU regulators, and the company plans to appeal the decision. The fine aims to restore fair competition in digital markets and hold Google accountable for abusive practices that harm publishers, advertisers, and consumers EU Commission reluctantly fines Google nearly €3 billion despite Trump threat
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen with US President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, August 18, 2025. ANDOLU VIA AFP
Brussels has slapped a fine on the US giant despite tensions with US
President Donald Trump over trade and tariffs. The EU Commission has yet
to go as far as demanding the breakup of the company.
EU fines Google $3.5 billion for anti-competitive ad practices
September 5, 202512:36 PM
The European Commission has fined Google €2.95 billion ($3.5 billion)
for abusing its dominance in the digital advertising technology market
and favoring its adtech services over those of its competitors.
- Google was also ordered by the EU's top antitrust regulator to stop
anti-competitive and "self-preferencing" practices and take measures to
mitigate future conflicts of interest in the adtech market.
Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's Global Head of Regulatory Affairs, told
BleepingComputer that the antitrust regulator's decision was wrong and
that the company will appeal it.
"The European Commission's decision about our ad tech services is
wrong and we will appeal. It imposes an unjustified fine and requires
changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it
harder for them to make money," Mulholland said.
"There's nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers
and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever
before."
This follows the Commission's notification to Google
in June 2023 of a preliminary finding that its abusive practices in
online advertising technology violated the European Union's antitrust
rules concerning adtech operations. At the time, Google stated that the Commission's case "rests on flawed interpretations of the ad tech sector."
This is the fourth time the European Commission has fined Google for
abusing its market dominance. In March 2019, the Commission
fined Google €1.49 billion ($1.7 billion) for blocking rival advertising companies from displaying search ads on publisher search results pages.
- In July 2018, Google was fined €2.42 billion ($2.72 billion)
for preventing other companies from competing in the online search and
comparison shopping market by abusing its search engine dominance.
- One year earlier, in June 2017, the EU's competition watchdog imposed a record €4.34 billion ($5.04 billion) fine on Google "for illegal practices regarding Android mobile devices to strengthen the dominance of Google's search engine."
On Wednesday, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL), France's data protection authority, also fined Google €325 million ($378 million) for displaying ads between Gmail users' emails without their consent and violating cookie regulations.
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