Following a similar investigation against Facebook earlier this month, the European Union on Tuesday launched a formal antitrust motion with Google to investigate whether the company had committed fraud by endorsing its online advertising technology rather than competing providers. Violated the Federation’s competition rules.
According to a report released by the European Commission, the investigation will investigate whether Google is altering competition by preventing third parties from accessing user data for advertising purposes.
Margaret Wester, executive vice president of the European Competitive Policy Commission, said regulators were concerned that Google was harassing them to compete for competitive online advertising services.
Vestager also said it would review Google’s user monitoring policies to ensure compliance with Fair Competition.
The investigation included an obligation to use Google’s Ads Manager when advertising on YouTube, a plan to block third-party cookies in Chrome, and to restrict access to information for third-party ad detection on Android devices of the user’s choice. The plan will also be taken care of. . . Outside of personal advertising.
The Commission said it was considering the need to protect user privacy under EU data protection law, but said it should ensure that all participants in the advertising market act on a level playing field. In protecting user’s privacy.
In a statement shared with Forbes, Google said their service is used by thousands of European businesses because “they are competitive and efficient” and plans to answer questions from the European Commission and articulate the benefits of the products. Is. Its.
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“Online advertising services Google and publishers are at the heart of using their online services,” Vestager said. Online visual advertising is at every level of the Google distribution chain. We are concerned that competition for so-called advertising online technology services is making it harder for Google to service online advertising. ”
important background
The Google investigation is the latest in a series of disappointing actions facing US technology companies including Apple, Facebook and Amazon. Earlier this month, the European Union launched a dismal investigation by Britain’s competition regulator into manipulation of Facebook’s advertising data. Facebook Block is investigating whether the company violated competition laws by using data it collected from advertisers to compete against them in the advertising business. Earlier this year, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also launched an investigation into Google’s conspiracy to eliminate third-party cookies in its Chrome browser. The CMA announced earlier this month that it plans to take a supervising role in the design and development of Google’s upcoming “Privacy Sandbox” — the company’s alternative program for third-party cookies. Tuesday’s report did not mention that it was overseeing Google’s design process, while reviewing the so-called privacy sandbox called the EU study.
