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Google announced major changes to its advertising services on Friday, just a day after the European Commission opened a new digital competition probe into the company, according to France 24.
The move also comes two months after Brussels imposed a Euro 2.95-billion antitrust fine on Google for allegedly favouring its own ad services, giving the company 60 days to fix the issues. A Google spokesperson said, "Our proposal fully addresses the decision without a disruptive break-up that would harm the thousands of European publishers and advertisers who use Google tools to grow their business." The company, however, said it still disagreed with the EU's ruling and plans to appeal the fine. The fine, announced in September, had triggered a strong reaction from US President Donald Trump, who warned of fresh tariffs on the EU if the decision stood. The European Commission had said Google used its dominant position in online advertising to favour its own services, making it harder for rivals to compete, as per France 24. Google's new plan includes immediate product changes. These include giving publishers the option to set different minimum prices for different bidders on Google Ad Manager. The company also said it would improve the interoperability of its tools for publishers and advertisers to address EU concerns over conflict of interest. The European Commission confirmed receiving Google's commitments and said it would study them closely. "We will now analyse Google's proposed measures to assess whether they effectively bring the self-preferencing practices to an end and address the situation of inherent conflicts of interest," a spokesperson said. The changes will now be examined by Brussels as it tries to balance strict enforcement of tech competition rules with concerns over escalating tensions with Washington. Google is also facing scrutiny in the United States. A federal judge had earlier ruled against the company in a major adtech case, and Google is fighting to avoid a forced sale of key advertising units. Closing arguments in that case are expected Monday, and a decision could come in the following weeks or months. The EU has fined Google several times over the past decade, Euro 4.1 billion in 2018 for abusing dominance of its Android system, and Euro 2.4 billion in 2017 for anti-competitive practices in its price comparison service. The latest fine and new probe add to the long-running battle between Brussels and one of the world's biggest tech companies. Meanwhile, the new probe, launched on Thursday, is examining whether Google is unfairly pushing certain news outlets down in search results. This added to the pressure already placed on the company over its dominance in online advertising.
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