Online advertising: Google will pay 220 million fine in France
The Competition Authority fined Google € 220 million for abuse of a dominant position.
REUTERS - Clay Mclachlan
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The French Competition Authority announced on Monday, June 7, that it had fined Google 220 million euros for promoting its own services in the online advertising sector.
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The digital giant has promoted its own online advertising services.
"
The Authority noted that Google has granted preferential treatment to its proprietary technologies offered under the Google Ad Manager brand
," said the French Competition Authority in a press release published on Monday, June 7.
Google "
did not dispute the facts
" and the fine was decided within the framework of a transaction procedure with the American giant, indicated the Competition Authority which had initially been seized by three press groups, News Corp, Le Figaro and Rossel.
The Figaro group then withdrew from the procedure.
"
The practices in question are particularly serious because they have penalized Google's competitors in the SSP market
(platforms on which publishers sell their advertising space, Editor's note)
and publishers of sites and mobile applications
", including including press editors, also explains the press release.
"
A historic decision
"
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, achieved $ 55.31 billion (about 45.48 billion euros) in revenue in the first quarter of 2021, mostly through online advertising.
Beyond the financial sanction, Google has offered commitments aimed at resolving the problems highlighted by the Authority's investigation.
"
It's a historic decision
"
because "
it is the first decision in the world looking into the complex algorithmic auction processes by which online" display "advertising works
(which is displayed on the screens of Internet users, Editor's note)", underlined the president of the French Competition Authority, Isabelle de Silva, in a press conference.
The company faces lawsuits from authorities in several countries on the competition law front.
(with AFP)
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