The European Commission has formally notified Google of its preliminary findings that the tech giant has violated EU antitrust laws by distorting competition within the advertising technology (adtech) industry. The Commission's concerns center around Google's preferential treatment of its own ad services, which may disadvantage competing providers, advertisers, and online publishers.

Google, a leading US multinational technology company, generates significant revenue from online advertising through various services, including its search engine, YouTube, and the Android operating system. The adtech industry relies on digital tools for real-time ad placements, such as display ads on websites. Google offers several key adtech services, including ad buying tools like Google Ads and DV 360, a publisher ad server known as DoubleClick For Publishers (DFP), and an ad exchange called AdX.

The Commission has preliminarily determined that Google holds a dominant position in the European Economic Area for both publisher ad servers and programmatic ad buying tools. Since at least 2014, Google is accused of abusing this dominance by engaging in practices that may have given its ad exchange, AdX, an unfair competitive advantage, potentially foreclosing rival ad exchanges and reinforcing its central role in the adtech supply chain.

If these allegations are substantiated, they would constitute a violation of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits the abuse of a dominant market position. The Commission has expressed skepticism that behavioral remedies would suffice to prevent Google from continuing such self-preferencing practices, suggesting that mandatory divestment of certain services may be necessary to address competition concerns.

The issuance of a Statement of Objections marks a significant step in the Commission's investigation, allowing Google to respond to the allegations and present its defense. The outcome of the investigation remains uncertain, as the Commission will assess the evidence and arguments before making a final decision, which could include prohibiting the conduct and imposing substantial fines.