Google has been handed a $3.5 billion fine by the European Commission for breaching antitrust laws. This time, it is related to its advertising technology.
Ad tech is Google's core business, it earns a ton of money by displaying ads on Google Search and other services. Google earned an annual revenue of $350 billion in 2024. In Q2 2024 alone, it made $64 billion from Search, YouTube ads and Google Network. That number went up by a further 7, making it $71 Billion in Q2 2025.
No wonder why the Mountain View company is obsessed with its ad business. It had allowed advertises to use digital fingerprinting to track and identify devices and users, to serve them better ads. YouTube has been aggressively blocking ads, while Premium prices were jacked up. Add Chromium's removal of Manifest V3 into the mix, and it paints a clear picture, get the advertising revenue up at any cost. But it's not just users who were suffering, other advertisers had it rough too.
Back in June 2021, the European Commission began an antitrust investigation into Google's ad tech practices, accusing the American company of abusing its dominant position in the search industry by favoring its own ads ahead of those belonging to competitors. Google had reportedly made $147 Billion in revenue in 2020. As I mentioned earlier, it's making more than that in just 6 months nowadays. Anyway, in mid 2023, the EU had targeted Google's ad monopoly in an antitrust complaint, and wanted it to sell part of its business as an antitrust remedy.
Now, the European Commission once again alleges that Google has abused its dominant position, not just in search, but in different digital markets, and on both sides of the ad tech supply chain, i.e. competitors, advertisers, publishers. The commission pointed out that the company has indulged in illegal practices for over 10 years, and that this has had a negative impact on all European citizens.
Google has been ordered to pay a fine of €2.95 billion (about $3.5 billion), under EU competition rules. €2.95 billion may be chump change for Google, but there are other implications, since this is the third time the company has been hit with a fine.
Recently, A U.S. Federal Court ordered Google to share its search data with its rivals, but rejected the Department of Justice's proposal to force the company to sell Chrome, or separate Android from it. Google may have gotten away with a slap on the wrist in the U.S. But the EU will have none of it.
The European Commission has ordered Google to stop its illegal practices in the ad tech industry. It has given Google 60 days to inform the Commission how it plans to remedy the situation, failing which could result in an appropriate remedy. EU could hit Google where it hurts. The Commission suggests that Google's only solution could be to sell part of its ad tech business, and that it is necessary and proportionate to end the infringement of the antitrust laws. The EU believes its decision has a worldwide dimension. You can read the EU's full statement on the official website.
Google's vice president and global head of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, told The Verge that the EU's decision was “wrong”, also saying that “It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money.” Google is planning to appeal the decision.
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