Brussels once again accuses Google and again for digital advertising. The European Commission is investigating the hegemonic search engine after finding signs that sponsored media content is harming its results and has launched a probe into whether the Alphabet subsidiary fails to comply with Digital Markets Regulation (DMA). This step opens a new front in the EU against the technological giant linked to advertising: just over two months ago the department led by Teresa Ribera imposed a fine of 2,950 million.
Sponsored content is, for the Commission, “a common and legitimate way for publishers to earn revenue from their web pages and content”. Instead, in “monitoring work, the Commission found indications that Google harms web pages and content from media and other publishers in search results when these websites include sponsored content.” Specifically, what the search engine does, explain Executive sources, is identify them as spam, which can also lead to them not appearing in the search list provided by Google Search.
The explanation that Google gave to the Commission would be that “this aims to combat practices that allegedly aim to manipulate rankings in search results” following its “policy on abusing website reputation”. Therefore, the investigation “focuses specifically on this practice and how this policy is applied to publishers.”
Being regulated by the DMA, the times of this investigation are significantly reduced compared to what would happen if the file had been opened according to the traditional competition rules. The Commission now has a year to carry out its investigations, which could result in a fine equal to 10% of Google’s global revenue, which in 2024 amounted to $350 billion (around €337 billion). In case of repeat infringement, the penalty may reach 20% of the invoiced amount. However, sanctions have rarely reached these levels.
The DMA also allows “the Commission to take additional corrective measures, such as forcing the sale of a business or parts of it, or prohibiting it from acquiring additional services related to systemic non-compliance.”
