The European Fee has opened a brand new probe into Google, this time targeted on the corporate’s large internet marketing enterprise, Bloomberg studies. European Union regulators have already fined Google billions for violating the Digital Markets Act, and being discovered responsible of anticompetitive habits in internet marketing might add to that complete.
Whereas the Fee has but to announce a proper investigation, Bloomberg writes that it has began contacting Google’s clients and rivals for details about its dominance throughout a number of internet marketing markets. Regulators are notably involved that Google may very well be “artificially growing the clearing worth” of advert auctions “to the detriment of advertisers.” If the corporate is discovered to be violating the EU’s competitors guidelines, Google may very well be fined 10 p.c of its international annual gross sales.
Google’s strategy to promoting to minors was reportedly already beneath investigation by the EU as of December 2024, and apart from fines, regulators have ordered the corporate to open up Android to competing AI assistants and share search information with rivals. Within the US, there’s additionally precedent for locating Google’s strategy to internet marketing anticompetitive.
A US federal choose discovered that Google is a monopolist in internet marketing in April 2025, the conclusion of a authorized battle that began with a Division of Justice lawsuit accusing the corporate of dominating the advert market and utilizing its management to cost extra and maintain a bigger portion of advert gross sales. The DOJ in the end needs Google to promote its advert tech enterprise, however a remaining resolution hasn’t been reached as to how the corporate’s anticompetitive habits must be remedied.
