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The European Union imposed a €2.95 billion ($3.47 billion) antitrust fine on Google Friday for illegally favoring its own advertising services, marking the latest regulatory action against the tech giant amid escalating tensions between Brussels and Washington.
The European Commission found that Google abused its dominant position in advertising technology between 2014 and the present, harming publishers, advertisers and consumers across the 27-nation bloc. The penalty represents one of the largest antitrust fines in EU history.
"Google abused its dominant position in adtech harming publishers, advertisers, and consumers. This behaviour is illegal under EU antitrust rules," said EU competition chief Teresa Ribera.
The commission determined that Google leveraged its control over multiple advertising tools to give unfair advantages to its own ad exchange, AdX. The company's DoubleClick ad server would inform AdX in advance about competitors' highest bids during ad selection processes, the investigation found.
Google operates across the advertising ecosystem through its AdX exchange, DoubleClick server, Google Ads platform and DV 360 buying tools. This vertical integration allowed the company to manipulate auction processes in favor of its own services, regulators concluded.
The fine comes despite warnings from President Donald Trump against targeting U.S. technology companies. Earlier this week, reports emerged that the commission had temporarily paused the penalty over concerns about potential American retaliation.
Google has 60 days to propose how it will end what Brussels calls "self-preferencing practices." If the company fails to present a viable compliance plan, the commission threatened to impose structural remedies, potentially including forcing Google to sell parts of its advertising technology business.
"At this stage, it appears that the only way for Google to end its conflict of interest effectively is with a structural remedy, such as selling some part of its Adtech business," Ribera said.
Google rejected the findings and announced plans to 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," said Lee-Anne Mulholland, the company's global head of regulatory affairs.
Advertising revenue forms Google's financial foundation. Parent company Alphabet reported $28.2 billion in quarterly profits in July.
The European Publishers Council, which filed the original complaint, criticized the penalty as insufficient. "Without strong and decisive enforcement, Google will simply write this off as a cost of business while consolidating its dominance in the AI era," said director Angela Mills Wade.
Friday's action represents the third major fine against Google this week. A U.S. federal jury ordered the company to pay $425 million Wednesday for collecting smartphone user data despite privacy settings. French regulators imposed a €325 million fine the same day for cookie law violations.
However, Google secured a significant victory Tuesday when a U.S. judge rejected government demands to sell its Chrome browser, though the ruling imposed other competition requirements.
The EU has repeatedly targeted Google with antitrust penalties, including a €4.1 billion fine in 2018 over Android practices and €2.4 billion in 2017 for search comparison violations.
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