European Commission targets Google in antitrust complaint
3 Min Read
Google does not like competition.
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Google enjoys enormous powers on the internet - and refuses to back down.
On Friday, the European Publishers Council filed a complaint about Google's digital advertising business, strengthening EU antitrust Margrethe Vestager's probe into the dilemma.
In 2020, Google made $147 billion from online aids in revenue, which is more than any company in the world, with searches, Youtube and Gmail constituting the biggest slice of overall sales and profits.
16% of Google's revenue comes from the company's display or network business, where media companies used Google to sell ads on their platforms.
However, the European Commission in June started an antitrust probe into whether Google is biased towards its own advertising tech services, sidelining competing companies, advertisers and online publishers.
The European Commission isn't the only one dissatisfied: Russia, India and even US states have taken legal action against the tech giant.
Axel Springer, News UK, Conde Nast, Bonnier News and Editorial Prense Iberica (EPC), constituting the publishers' trade body, complained to the Commission about Google's stronghold over press publishers through an ad tech.
"It is high time for the European Commission to impose measures on Google that actually change, not just challenge, its behavior," Christian Van Thillo, chairman of EPC, said in a statement. "Google has achieved end-to-end control of the ad tech value chain, boasting market shares as high as 90-100% in segments of the ad tech chain."
Vestager, who launched the probe, has fined Google over $9.2 billion over the years for engaging in anti-competitive practices on 3 accounts.
Read more: Google, Facebook CEOs were aware of deal to control ad sales: lawsuit
Google asks judge to dismiss most of antitrust lawsuit
Last month, January, Google asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss the majority of the allegations in an antitrust case brought by the state of Texas.
In the filing, the giant tech company claimed that the Texas complaint isn't "credible" and that the state of Texas failed to prove that the company's ad business violated any antitrust laws.
The lawsuit was filed by the Lanier Law Firm.
In a blog post, Google's Director of Economic Policy Adam Cohen said, "AG Paxton’s allegations are more heat than light, and we don’t believe they meet the legal standard to send this case to trial,” adding that the lawsuit misrepresents "our business, products, and motives, and we are moving to dismiss it based on its failures to offer plausible antitrust claims."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched the action in late 2020, alleging that Google improperly maintained a monopoly in internet advertising. Texas renewed the suit this week with a fresh complaint that was originally filed in November but redacted before a court ordered the facts of the complaint be made public.
The case has been joined by Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico.
