Google’s Anti-Competitive Practices Causing ‘Considerable Harm’ to Advertisers and Consumers: Publishers Council

The logo for Google LLC is seen at their office in Manhattan, New York, on Nov. 17, 2021. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

The European Publishers Council (EPC) has filed an antitrust complaint against tech giant Google with the European Commission, aimed at breaking the company’s hold over publishers and other entities that are part of its vast ad ecosystem.

“It is high time for the European Commission to impose measures on Google that actually change, not just challenge, its behavior—behavior that has caused and continues to cause considerable harm, not just to Europe’s press publishers, but to all advertisers and eventually consumers in the form of higher prices (including ad tech fees), less choice, less transparency, and less innovation,” EPC Chairman Christian Van Thillo said in the Feb. 11 press release.

The complaint accuses Google of embarking on unlawful practices to crush competition in the online advertising space, leading to market shares as high as 90 to 100 percent in the sector.

Google’s ad program is “rife with conflicts of interests” as the company not only represents the buyer in a transaction but also the seller while operating the auction house and selling its own inventory. This advantageous position has been misused by Google for its own self-interests, harming customers in the process, said the report.

Google reported $75.36 billion in revenue in Q4 2021, a jump of 32 percent from $56.90 billion last year; $61.24 billion in the final quarter came from advertising, making the segment account for over 80 percent of the company’s total revenue.

EPC alleges that Google has monopolized the ad tech value chain to the extent that the company charges high commission rates on at least 30 percent of all transactions between advertisers and publishers. In addition, Google has “actively suppressed” its competitors.

“Competition authorities across the world have found that Google has restricted competition in ad tech, yet Google has been able to get away with minor commitments which do nothing to bring about any meaningful changes to its conduct,” Van Thillo said.

“This cannot go on. The stakes are too high, particularly for the future viability of funding a free and pluralistic press. We call on the Commission to take concrete steps right now that will actually break the stranglehold that Google has over us all.”

The European Commission is already conducting an investigation into Google’s anticompetitive conduct in the ad tech business.

Launched in June last year, it is examining whether Google is “distorting competition” by restricting third parties from accessing user data relevant to advertising purposes while reserving such data for its own use.

EPC expects its complaint, filed on Feb. 11, to be made a part of the European Commission investigation. It called on the commission to carry on the investigation with the highest priority.

The organization expects the regulator to intervene and impose remedies to ensure that effective competition conditions in the ad tech sector are reestablished. This would be of benefit to European publishers and advertisers as well as consumers, EPC insisted.

“Less advertising revenue means press publishers have less resources to invest in news content and fulfill their socially important mission of informing the general public and holding those in power accountable. Supra-competitive ad tech fees are also borne by advertisers, which they may pass on to consumers in the form of higher prices for advertised goods or services. Everyone loses but for one company: Google,” EPC concluded.