Google To Get Hit With EU Antitrust Charges for Ad Tech Abuses

Google is set to be hit with a formal antitrust complaint from the European Union that could lead to massive new fines and strike at the heart of the advertising technology that drives most of the US firm's revenue. From a report: The so-called statement of objections, to be announced as soon as Wednesday, will mark another escalation in a long-running saga that's already led to a trio of EU penalties totaling more than $8.6 billion. The new charges will target the core of the Alphabet unit's ad tech business model, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Google's advertising business is by far its most successful, accounting for about 80% of its annual revenue. In 2022, its ad sales amounted to about $225 billion. The new complaint is the most significant in the current five-year mandate of the European Commission, the EU's antitrust watchdog, one of the people said.

Re:In other words...

[ArchieBunker]

In other words the EU takes consumer protection and privacy laws seriously. In the USA they would get a nasty letter and a fine equal to 0.05 seconds of yearly profits.

Re:

[HBI]

Sure, we all just love those mainly inexplicable cookie dialog boxes. That showed em.

Re:In other words...

[Charlotte]

Bogus.

You don't need to use those to be OK with GDPR, and their use doesn't absolve you if you fail to adhere to GDPR.

Re:

[HBI]

It was a thoroughly predictable outcome that basically screwed over everyone.

Re:

[gweihir]

Only if you are very simple minded. Laws still protect you (in the EU) even when you do not understand them.

Re:In other words...

[gweihir]

The cookie boxes come with additional info and are default opt-out. They also come with a requirement that unless actually infeasible, the site must work without tracking you. If you cannot see why that is a good thing, then there is a problem on your side.

Actual Information

[ranton]

Anyone who wants any information on this, look here [europa.eu]. This is from their complaint back in 2017, but I doubt much has changed. The EU has hit Google with many fines already, and I doubt they will slow down until something changes. Probably with increasing fines each time to hopefully get to the point where Google wouldn't just consider this the cost of doing business in the EU.

Re:

[misnohmer]

Fines are already just cost of doing business, which is passed onto the customers. As long as it makes net money, it will keep on happening. If they really wanted to stop it, they'd make the executives personally liable, including possible jail sentences. Then again, I suspect if all Google suddenly became 100% compliant, EU would find other reasons to fine/tax, such as the "digital services tax". In the end it's about the EU government extracting value from allowing large businesses to operate in EU. It's

the worst part

[CEC-P]

Have you guys ever seen a Google Adsense network ad that ISN'T for a scammy Chinese vendor, a BS health product that lies about curing something impossible, or a financial scam? The whole thing is basically a criminal network and legitimate companies have already figured out that web advertising doesn't work.

Re: the worst part

[CoderKat]

Honestly it's very disappointing what the quality of online ads is *still* like. In the early days of the web, it was a bit understandable that ads were terrible, as the web was still new and untrusted. But now the web is more commonly viewed than traditional places that contain ads (like TV), yet the quality of ads on the web still feels far worse than your typical TV ads. Companies the size of google have no excuse for allowing blatant scams and misinformation in ads. Yet they still do. It's also easy to