France’s competition watchdog has fined Google 220 million euros ($267 million) for abusing its market power in the online advertising industry.
The French Competition Authority said Monday Google had unfairly sent business to its own services, and discriminated against the competition. Google has agreed to pay the fine and end some of its self-preferencing practices, the watchdog said.
The investigation found that Google gave preferential treatment to its DFP advertising server, which allows publishers of sites and applications to sell their advertising space, and its SSP AdX listing platform, which organizes auction processes and allows publishers to sell their “impressions” or advertising inventory to advertisers. Google’s rivals and publishers suffered as a result, the regulator said.
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