Google Hit with €2.95 Billion EU Fine for Antitrust Violations

So Google got hit with another massive EU fine. About €3 billion this time. If you're keeping track, that's now over €11 billion in EU fines since 2017. But here's the thing - Google makes that much money in like 3 weeks.

The latest fine is for their adtech bullshit, which honestly, anyone who's tried to make money with Google Ads could tell you is rigged. They own the entire chain: the platform where you buy ads, the platform where sites sell ads, AND the auction house where they meet. It's like owning the casino, dealing the cards, and also being the house.

The Adtech Scam Everyone Knows About

If you've ever tried to compete with Google's ad exchange, you know exactly what this fine is about. Google's DoubleClick basically forces publishers to use their entire stack or get garbage rates.

I've seen this firsthand - when a publisher tries to use a non-Google supply-side platform, mysteriously their fill rates drop and CPMs tank. Google's demand-side platform somehow always has better "inventory" when you're using their full stack. Yeah right.

This isn't speculation. I worked at a publisher that tried switching to a different SSP in 2022. Within a week, our fill rates dropped from around 85% to maybe 60%. CPMs went from $2-3 down to $0.80. We switched back to Google Ad Manager and magically everything was fine again.

The 60-Day Comedy Show

Google has 60 days to explain how they'll fix this. Their usual playbook:

1. Appeal everything to death (takes 3-5 years)
2. Make token changes that don't actually fix anything
3. Keep printing money while lawyers argue

We've seen this movie before with their other EU fines - Android, shopping, AdSense. Spoiler alert: Google's still doing the same shit, just with different wording in their terms of service.

Why This Actually Matters

The dirty secret about Google's adtech monopoly is that it's killing actual journalism. When Google takes a 20-30% cut of every ad transaction (because you have to use their entire chain), that's money not going to the sites creating content.

I know publishers who've seen their ad revenue drop 40-60% since Google tightened their integration requirements around 2021. Meanwhile, Google's ad revenue keeps growing. The math isn't complicated - they're squeezing everyone else to death.

Here's what actually happens when you try to compete with Google's ad stack:

You're a publisher running header bidding to get better rates. You set up Prebid.js, add some decent SSPs like PubMatic and Index Exchange. Everything looks good in testing. Then you go live and discover Google Ad Exchange somehow always "wins" the auction with bids that are exactly 10-20% higher than everyone else.

Weird, right? Almost like Google has perfect information about what every other SSP is bidding and can adjust accordingly.

I've debugged this scenario probably 50 times. The pattern is always the same:

1. Non-Google SSPs bid first
2. Google Ad Exchange sees those bids (because they control the auction)
3. Google beats them by just enough to win
4. Your programmatic revenue stays locked into Google's ecosystem

The worst part? When you check the logs, Google's bid arrives literally milliseconds after the other bids resolve. But somehow they're still "winning" fair and square.

Why Fines Don't Work

Google's Q3 2024 revenue was around $88 billion. This €3 billion fine represents maybe 12 days of revenue. That's like fining you $50 for making $150,000 a year.

The real problem isn't the money - it's that Google's entire business model depends on controlling the ad tech stack. They'd rather pay billions in fines than give up a system that generates tens of billions annually.

What Would Actually Fix This

The only thing that would work is structural separation:

• Force Google to sell DoubleClick Ad Exchange
• Prevent them from owning both buy-side and sell-side platforms
• Make ad auctions actually transparent (show the actual bid data)

But that would require regulators who understand that adtech isn't just "Google makes money from ads." It's "Google controls the entire infrastructure that determines who gets ad money on the internet."

The EU talks about breaking this up, but they've been saying that for years. Meanwhile, Google keeps buying more adtech companies and tightening their grip. Last count they own like 15 different pieces of the ad tech stack.