Posted on 06/15/2023 7:30:26 AM PDT by george76
European Union regulators hit Google with fresh antitrust charges Wednesday, saying the only way to satisfy competition concerns about its lucrative digital ad business is by selling off parts of the tech giant’s main moneymaker.
The unprecedented decision to push for such a breakup marks a significant escalation by Brussels in its crackdown on Silicon Valley digital giants, and follows a similar move by U.S. authorities seeking to bust Google’s alleged monopoly on the online ad ecosystem.
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, said its preliminary view after an investigation is that “only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services” would address the concerns.
The 27-nation EU has led the global movement to crack down on Big Tech companies — including moving closer to groundbreaking rules on artificial intelligence — but it has previously relied on issuing blockbuster fines, including three antitrust penalties for Google worth billions.
It is the first time the bloc has told a tech giant that it should split up key parts of its business over violations of the EU’s strict antitrust laws, though details on what that could look like are not clear following the preliminary finding.
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European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager says Google is dominant on both sides of the ad-selling market. Google abused that position by favoring its own ad exchange, reinforcing its ability to charge a high fee for its services, the commission said.
“Google is representing the interests of both buyers and sellers. And at the same time, Google is setting the rules on how demand and supply should meet,” she said at a news conference. “This gives rise to inherent and pervasive conflicts of interest.”
Vestager added that if Google sold off, for example, its real-time marketplace for buying and selling ads or a tool for publishers to manage their ads, “we would put an end to the conflicts of interest.”
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Google’s ad tech business is also under investigation by Britain’s antitrust watchdog and faces litigation in the U.S. that calls for the company to divest its digital ad tools.
European and U.S. authorities are acknowledging that “the only way to address this egregious conflict of interest is to force Google to divest part of its business,” said Max von Thun, director of the Europe office of the Open Markets Institute, a proponent of stronger antitrust enforcement.
The commission’s move is “a clear illustration of the power competition authorities have when they work in parallel,” he said.
Brussels has previously hit Google with more than 8 billion euros (now $8.6 billion) worth of fines in three separate antitrust cases, involving its Android mobile operating system and shopping and search advertising services.
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Google brought in $54.5 billion in ad sales and YouTube earned nearly $6.7 billion in ad sales in the first three months of the year, but that marked a back-to-back slump as companies spend more cautiously.
The Googles, they are Evil!
Anything that hurts Google is good.
Google has a market capitalization of about $1.57 trillion.
A lot of people stand to lose a lot of money.
Congress might:
1. bar European product importation unless the EU backs off and refunds the fines paid by Google and Facebook.
2. bar importation from any country that remains in the EU.
3. bar flights to the EU
4. pull the US out of NATO, leaving the EU at the mercy of Putin.
Public pension funds might own hundreds of billions in Google stock, maybe around $1,000 per American and on average $50,000 per public pension right holder.
Many mutual funds hold Google.
I’m typing on a Google Chromebook. My Windows PC often turns sluggish when I connect it to the Internet.
“Google has a market capitalization of about $1.57 trillion. . A lot of people stand to lose a lot of money.”
Not necessarily. If Google broke up into different companies, the parts may be worth more than the whole. It turned out that way for old “Ma Bell”.
See my comment #7.
See my comment #7.
Doing the job the US Government won’t do.
Should have been done here years ago. The theory of “Anti-trust” is dead in this country.
Most phone calls are local, no?
I’m trying to think how you could break up a major search engine and still have a world wide web.
It is not about breaking up “the search engine”. That is only one part of the company Albphabet/Google.
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