Search agita: EU targets Google ads

Google is battling anti-monopoly regulators on both sides of the Atlantic — and the European Union is reportedly about to turn up the heat.

Antitrust regulators in the bloc are set to launch an investigation into Google’s lucrative ad business by the end of the year, Reuters reported, building on three other antitrust probes that have resulted in $9.8 billion in fines so far.

Google dominates the digital advertising market worldwide, taking in 27.5 percent of all global ad spending, according to market research firm eMarketer. Its share of the US ad market last year was 28.9 percent, according to the firm.

The search giant’s share of online advertising, however, is much greater. In 2019, the European Union estimated that Google’s market share of online display ads was more than 85 percent between 2006 and 2016.

Advertising brought Google $147 billion in revenue last year — about 80 percent of the company’s total income. Ads on Google’s own properties, including search, YouTube and Gmail, made up the bulk of Google’s ad sales and profits last year. About 16 percent of revenue came from its display or network business, through which other media companies use Google technology to sell ads on their Web site and apps.

Google and a spokesperson for the European Commission, the branch of the EU that would reportedly oversee the investigation, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

In 2018, the EU slapped Google with a record $5 billion fine for forcing cellphone makers to install Google apps on phones using the company’s Android operating system.