Google may have to sell part of its online advertising business, due to anti-competitive monopolistic practices, or face the “maximum regulatory penalty” stipulated, Reuters reported, citing EU officials.
The European Commission brought Google a list of accusations in a “Statement of Objections” after a two-year investigation into the behavior of the American company; As a preference for its advertising services, and cracking down on competitors, Google may face a fine of 10% of its total annual sales.
According to the European Commission's preliminary investigation, Google had abused its "dominant position" for nearly a decade in unfairly favoring its own ad exchange (AdX) in the ad selection auction.
Google has created services for both advertisers and publishers, and has also created the AdX platform for ad exchange, which is usually preferred by other services associated with advertisers and publishers.
According to the EU's antitrust chief, Google collects user data, sells advertising space and acts as an online advertising intermediary, so it is "present at almost all levels of the so-called online advertising supply chain".
She added that Google may have no choice but to sell part of its business in the online advertising sector. Because “behavioral therapies” will likely not be effective in stopping their anti-competitive practices.
This clash with regulators within the European Union poses an existential risk for Google, as it is the largest online advertising company in the world, and ads make up about 80% of its revenue, according to the company's financial statements for the past year.
Advertising revenues across Google's various platforms in 2022 amounted to more than $224 billion, including the Adsense and Admob platforms, Gmail and Maps applications, the Google Play Store, the search engine, and others.
Google will have a few months to respond to the accusations against it, and it can also request a closed hearing before the Commission's top antitrust officials, before the EU issues a final decision, a process that could take a year or more. Google had faced similar accusations in the United States earlier.
