France’s anti-competition watch dog concluded Monday to fine Google 220 million euros ($268 million) for abusing its “dominance” in the online advertising business, a phenomenal move, the body said.
Practices utilized by Google “are serious on the grounds that they punish Google’s rivals” in specific business sectors and publishers of mobile sites and applications, the release by the Competition Authority said.
“The authority reviews that a company in a dominant position has responsibility, that of not sabotaging,” the assertion said.
Google, situated in Mountain View, California, didn’t question the facts and chose to settle, proposing changes, the assertion said.
The head of the authority, Isabelle de Silva, said the decision was uncommon.
“(It’s) the first in the world to investigate complex algorithmic sell-offs measures through which online presentation advertising works,” she said.
This fine, alongside Google’s responsibilities to make changes, “will make it conceivable to restore a level playfield for all players, and the capacity for publishers to benefit as much as possible from their advertising space,” de Silva said in the explanation.
Google France’s legal director, Maria Gomri, said in a blog Monday that Google has been teaming up for as far back as two years with the French watch dog on issues encompassing ad technology, strikingly the editors’ platform, Google Ad Manager. She said that decisions made during negotiations would “work with use by editors of data and our tools with other ad technologies.
After tests in the months ahead, changes will be deployed all the more comprehensively, “some on a global scale,” Gomri said.
