At the end of 2019, the Competition Authority fined Google 150 million euros for abuse of a dominant position in the online advertising market with Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords).
According to Reuters, this conviction in connection with a 2015 case was confirmed this week by the Paris Court of Appeal.
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News published on December 21, 2019
Google is fined 150 million euros for abuse of dominant position. Another… you could say, but this time it comes from the French Competition Authority. It concerns Google Ads in the field of online advertising.
The competition policeman therefore considered that Google is abusing its dominant position with its advertising platform and with an impact on competition. More specifically, reference is made to sponsored ads displayed on the results pages of the Google search engine, recalling that the European Commission’s sanction related to old practices with text and graphic ads on the sites.
The system is governed by advertiser bids on keywords. In a communicatedthe Autorité de la concurrence criticizes the operating rules of Google Ads which are ” opaque “and with an application of way” discriminatory or inconsistent. “
At the origin of the decision, the company Gibmedia, which had seized the Authority in 2015 after the suspension without notice of its Google Ads account (or Google AdWords at the time). Gibmedia publishes pay sites on weather, business information and telephone information.
” Our users expect to be protected from misleading ads and that’s what our Advertising Terms of Use are for. “, reacted Google (Reuters). According to Google, Gibmedia was broadcasting ” advertisements for sites that tricked users into paying for services with unclear billing terms. “
” We don’t want these kinds of ads on our systems, so we’ve suspended Gibmedia and waived ad revenue to protect our users from harm. “, adds Google, which intends to appeal the decision.
Such a reaction from Google was clearly expected by the Competition Authority. Indeed, she writes: The objective of consumer protection, displayed by Google, is perfectly legitimate, but it cannot justify Google treating actors in comparable situations in a differentiated and random manner. “
She clarifies: ” Google cannot suspend the account of an advertiser on the grounds that it would offer services that it considers contrary to the interests of the consumer, while agreeing to reference and accompany on its advertising platform sites that sell similar services. “
In addition to the penalty of 150 million euros, Google must put more clarity in the rules of Google Ads and must present its measures put in place effectively within six months.
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