EU Fines Google $3.45 Billion Over Adtech Practices - 1

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EU Fines Google $3.45 Billion Over Adtech Practices

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

The European Commission fined Google 2.95 billion euros—around $3.45 billion—on Friday over its abusive practices in advertising technology (adtech). The agency said the tech giant had favored its own ad displays and systems, engaging in anticompetitive behavior.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • The European Commission fined Google €2.95 billion for breaching European antitrust laws through anticompetitive behavior.
  • The antitrust watchdog said Google has been abusing its adtech tools to harm competitors.
  • The U.S. government called the decision “unfair” and threatened to take action.

According to the official announcement , the Commission’s investigation revealed that Google had been abusing its dominant position in adtech since 2014, breaching Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

“It did so by favouring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers, and online publishers,” states the announcement. “Google has now 60 days to inform the Commission about how it intends to do so.”

The European antitrust watchdog explained that Google abused its adtech tools—its publisher ad servers, programmatic ad buying tools, and ad exchange AdX. In one case, the investigation showed that Google favored AdX by making it the most attractive exchange and informing it of the best bid from competitors in advance. This allowed Google to charge a higher fee for its services.

“Today’s decision shows that Google abused its dominant position in adtech, harming publishers, advertisers, and consumers,” said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition. “Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate to impose strong remedies.”

According to Reuters , U.S. President Donald Trump has called the Commission’s decision “unfair” and threatened to take action against the organization.

“We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” wrote Trump in a post on the social media platform Truth Social.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 states that the U.S. can sanction foreign countries for engaging in “unreasonable” actions that burden U.S. commerce.

Google also faces another antitrust complaint in the European Union over its AI Overview tool , issued by the Independent Publishers Alliance in July.

Google’s New AI Mode Alarms Publishers Facing Steep Traffic Losses - 2

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Google’s New AI Mode Alarms Publishers Facing Steep Traffic Losses

  • Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Google plans to make a significant search engine change, which will shake up the internet while intensifying the challenges faced by news organizations.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • Google may soon make AI Mode the default search option.
  • Publishers report massive traffic losses from Google’s AI Overviews.
  • Google says traditional “blue links” remain under a Web tab.

Google’s AI tools, including AI Overviews and AI Mode, reduce news publisher traffic since users receive answers directly without needing to click on links. HuffPost, Washington Post, and Business Insider saw declines of over 50%, forcing these companies to reduce staff and change their business strategy.

Critics call it “theft” of content. Nicholas Thompson warned, “Google is shifting from being a search engine to an answer engine.”

Forbes reports that Google Search VP of Product Robby Stein announced on Friday that users can activate the new AI Mode by visiting ‘google.com/ai.’ Users can now interact with Google through a chatbot interface instead of entering standard search queries.

good idea. I’ve felt the same way. you can now get to ai mode by heading straight to https://t.co/Q75S7fHStY https://t.co/z0m6fCyyLL — Robby Stein (@rmstein) September 5, 2025

Forbes also notes that the product lead for DeepMind, Gemini, and Google AI products, Logan Kilpatrick, announced on X that AI Mode will become the standard interface in the near future.

The risk, critics warn, is “Google Zero,” a future where Google keeps readers on its own platform and sends little to no traffic to outside sites. Digital Content Next conducted research that revealed major publishers experienced a 25% decrease in referral traffic during the last eight weeks of this year.

In a clarification, Stein said Google’s plan is not to make AI Mode the default for everyone right now, but to let people choose it more easily. “If you prefer AI mode as your default search tab, there will be a toggle or a button to do that,” he said, as reported by Bleeping Computer .

For now, the traditional “blue links” will still exist, hidden behind a “Web” tab, which users can access. Media professionals predict that AI Mode will eventually take over as the primary search interface.

As one Forbes report put it, the publishing model won’t just be strained, “it will be under siege, to put it mildly.”