Google fined €200 million by French government for digital advertising market abuse

It is not today that Google has legal problems with the French government, whether for tax evasion, lack of transparency in its use policy or the like, but the tech giant has just suffered another severe financial blow from the Land of the Eiffel Tower.

Last Monday, France fined the American company 200 million euros because of anti-competitive practices for publishers and news agencies in the field of digital advertising.

According to the French Competition Authority, Google favored its proprietary technologies offered under the Google Ad Manager brand, both with regard to the operation of the ad server (where publishers of websites and applications can sell their advertising spaces), and the SSP adX selling platform (which organizes the auction process, allowing publishers to sell their “impressions” or advertising inventories to advertisers) to the detriment of their competitors and publishers.

To the surprise of many, Google did not dispute the decision and, in addition to paying the fine, has committed to improve the interoperability of Google Ad Manager services with third-party ad server and ad server sales platform solutions, and to end the provisions that favor Google. The agency accepted the commitments and added them to its decision. That money certainly doesn’t make that much difference to Google.

More Information

• Google Ad Manager
• Google AD Exchange
• Sell Side Platform