The French Autorité de la Concurrence ("ADLC") has announced a €220 million fine against Google for breach of antitrust laws by its advertising business.
The ADLC opened an investigation into Google following the filing of complaints by News Corp Inc, Le Figaro Group, and Rossel La Voix Group accusing the internet giant of favouring its own advertising services. Le Figaro's complaint was withdrawn in November 2020.
The ADLC's investigation focused on the relationship between Google's ad sales platform, Google Ad Manager, and its exchange, AdX, with the ADLC considering that Google had shared rivals' pricing information from Ad Manager to advantage its AdX service.
In addition to the fine, Google has committed to change how it operates its advertising services in France for the next three years. These commitments were agreed between the ADLC and Google following negotiations between the two.
Google has indicated that it will not appeal the ADLC's conclusions, and will implement some of the changes to how it operates globally.
The ADLC's announcement can be found here.
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