EU regulators, SSPs and publishers pile on Google as U.S. ad tech remedies trial looms

The long-awaited remedies for Google’s online search monopoly came and went, leaving behind a trail of disappointment in the industry. Google will have to share some search results with “qualified competitors,” but can hold onto Chrome, Android and its $20 billion deal with Apple to remain Safari’s default search option.

But efforts to rein in the tech giant’s dominance are far from over. Attention is turning to the ad tech remedies trial, scheduled for Sept. 22, just as lawsuits and billion-euro fines intensify scrutiny of its ad business.

This week, supply-side platform PubMatic sued Google, claiming it illegally monopolized the ad tech market, joining another SSP, OpenX, as well as publisher People Inc. (formerly DotDash Meredith). That’s three fresh lawsuits in just a month. And in April, a U.S. federal judge branded Google a monopoly over its ad tech practices.

The most potent blow, though, came from Europe. The European Commission last week handed Google its second-largest fine ever, after finding that the company breached “EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the advertising technology industry.”

The commission said that Google favored “its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers.”

However, the European Publishers Council, which was behind the European Commission complaint against Google and whose members include some of Europe’s largest publishers, said the fine “will not fix Google’s abuse of its ad tech” and called instead for “strong and decisive action by Google to end illegal practices.”

Zooming in

Amid the legal and regulatory hubbub, the commission’s fine stands out, and not only for its €2.95 billion ($3.47 billion) tag. It’s intended to provoke structural change.

Unlike the largely behavioral remedies imposed on Google as part of the search trial, the fine is not just a “slap on the wrist,” says Stijn Huijts, partner at Geradin Partners, a law firm that has represented publishers in antitrust actions against Google.

“There is a clear message coming from the commission that it wants to see a serious proposal from Google in the next 60 days. … If those proposals are insufficient, the commission has already said it will proceed to impose an appropriate remedy,” Huijts says.

In a statement announcing the fine, the commission reiterated its preliminary position that “only the divestment by Google of part of its services would address the situation of inherent conflicts of interest.”

Still, EU regulators seem willing to let the U.S. ad tech remedies trial play out, Huijts says. “I suspect that the remedies trial will have been a part of the commission’s decision-making. … This has avoided a situation where the commission has already imposed a remedy before both the DOJ and Google could set out their positions in the U.S. remedies trial.”

What’s next

Google now has 60 days to inform the commission how it will stop the “self-preferencing practices” and implement measures to cease its “inherent conflicts of interest.” It has 30 days to action them.

Though that timeline may be stretched. Lee-Anne Mulholland, vice president and global head of regulatory affairs at Google, said in a statement the company will appeal, adding that “The European Commission’s … imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money.”

One thing is certain: Google’s ad tech practices are already facing multiple reckonings, from both industry players and regulators.

“Google could try to run down the clock and see how far the commission is willing to go, but is that a game of chicken it wants to play?” Huijts says.

“The EU is a major market for Google, and it cannot be a good business strategy forever to be at odds with its key regulator. It may be better to get ahead of this and propose real structural changes over the next 60 days,” he adds.

Geradin Partners represented the European Publishers Council in its formal complaint brought to the European Commission against Google’s ad tech practices and previously represented News Corp in the French antitrust case against Google in 2021. Before joining the firm, Huijts was legal director at the CMA in the U.K.