The European Union Wednesday charged Google with violating the bloc’s antitrust laws by favoring its own online advertising technology to the “detriment of competing providers,” marking the latest regulatory blow to the American tech giant.
European Commission vice-president in charge Europe fit for the digital Margrethe Vestager gives a ... [+]
The European Commission—the EU’s executive arm—said its investigation found Google is throttling competition by leveraging its position as the region's most dominant provider of ad-buying tools for advertisers and ad-serving tools for publishers.
The commission’s preliminary findings suggest any behavioral remedy would be ineffective and that “mandatory divestment”—i.e. selling a part of its business—may be the only way to resolve the competition issues.
This is a developing story.