Google Offers Remedies to EU After $3.4 Billion Ad Tech Fine

By Edith Hancock

Alphabet's Google submitted remedies to the European Commission after the bloc's 2.95 billion euros ($3.42 billion) fine over alleged dominance of the company's advertising technology business, but stopped short of offering to sell parts of the business.

"Our proposal fully addresses the [European Commission's] decision without a disruptive break-up that would harm the thousands of European publishers and advertisers who use Google tools to grow their business," the company said in a statement on Friday.

The company said Friday it submitted a number of proposals to change how its ad tech business works in the EU. They include giving publishers an option to set varied minimum prices for different bidders when using Google's Ad Manager platform, and improving interoperability between Google's tools and products from other businesses to give publishers and advertisers more choice.

Google said it would continue to work with EU officials as they assess the proposal. "We are committed to finding an effective solution that provides certainty and consistency for our customers across Europe, the United States and globally," it said.

The fine issued in September is the EU's second-largest antitrust penalty ever, after an earlier fine issued to Google in 2018. The company has racked up billions in EU competition penalties related to popular services such as its search engine and Android operating system.

EU officials said that Google broke the bloc's competition rules by favoring its own online display ad tech services at the expense of rival providers and online publishers. According to the EU, the company holds an inherent conflict of interest due to its high profile on both the buy and sell-side of the advertising business through services such as Google Ads, Google Ad Manager and its exchange AdX.

The commission asked Google to bring its self-preferencing practices to an end, and to implement measures to end what it sees as its conflicts of interest along the ad tech supply chain.

A spokesperson for the commission confirmed it had received Google's remedy offer. "We will now analyse Google's proposed measures to assess whether they effectively bring the self-preferencing practices to an end and address the situation of inherent conflicts of interest," they said.

Teresa Ribera--the EU's top competition enforcer--told Dow Jones Newswires in September that it's hard to see how the issues identified can be remedied without some kind of structural change, but that Google should have a chance to offer solutions.

The submission also comes as Google faces a parallel legal dispute in the U.S. over its ad tech business. Judges there have yet to rule on a final remedy.

Brussels' enforcement against big technology companies has become a sore point for relations with the U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized EU regulators for fining American tech giants like Google and Apple, likening them to a tax on U.S. companies.

Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 14, 2025 01:14 ET (06:14 GMT)