Yahoo Finance·2025-09-09 09:46Core Points - The European Commission fined Google approximately $3.46 billion for antitrust violations related to unfair promotion of its own advertising services [2][3] - Google has been found to hold a dominant position in key European markets, specifically in publisher ad servers and programmatic ad buying [6] - The Commission's investigation revealed that Google engaged in practices that distorted competition in the online display advertising sector [3][7] Group 1: Fine and Antitrust Violations - The European Commission imposed a fine of around $3.46 billion on Google for violating antitrust rules by favoring its own advertising technology services [2] - Google has previously paid a total of $16.5 billion in fines related to false claims and charges [1] Group 2: Google's Market Position - Google holds a dominant position in two key markets: publisher ad servers with "DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP)" and programmatic ad buying with "Google Ads" and "DV360" [6] - The Commission concluded that Google abused its market dominance since 2014 by favoring its own services over competitors [6] Group 3: Impact on Competition - Google's practices included providing privileged information to its exchange "AdX" and structuring bidding tools to favor AdX, which limited competition [7] - These actions allowed Google to charge higher fees and reinforced its central role in the adtech ecosystem [7]