Google to adjust ad tech products after $3.4b EU antitrust penalty

Google has proposed changes to its ad tech products in an effort to settle a European Union order following a €2.95 billion (US$3.4 billion) antitrust fine.

The company will let publishers set different minimum prices for bidders on its Ad Manager platform and improve interoperability across its ad tech services.

Google continues to dispute the EU’s September decision and plans to appeal.

The European Commission had found that Google gave its own ad exchanges an unfair advantage over rivals, and ordered the company to address these practices.

EU regulators have suggested that a breakup of Google’s ad tech arm could be necessary, but Google’s proposal stops short of this measure.

The €2.95 billion penalty is the EU’s second-largest antitrust fine against Google, following previous fines for its Android and shopping businesses.

Google is the largest player in the global digital ad market, with projected 2025 revenue of US$205 billion, according to research firm EMarketer.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Google changes lack clear interoperability and auction fixes

Google Ad Manager, its ad server for publishers for inventory and auctions, lets sites set bidder-specific floors 1. The Commission found its ad server tipped rival bids to Google AdX (its advertising exchange) 2, so floors will not balance the auction.
The Commission gave Google 60 days, by early Nov 2025, to end self-preferencing (favoring its own services over rivals) and fix structural conflicts 2. The ruling bars Google Ads from bypassing rival exchanges to bid mainly on AdX 2 yet Google has not said how other Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) will reach inventory equally under its interoperability plan (letting different ad tech systems work together on equal terms).
Regulators doubt conduct promises without separation and are weighing structural fixes like divestiture, or selling parts of a business, with a need for clear auction transparency 1 3.

European SSPs can gain if real interoperability is enforced

SSP operators and investors see Google’s web share at 31% in the UK and Germany plus 22% in France as up for grabs 4 5. Equativ tops Apple App Store SSPs in the UK with 22% 6, while Verve Group leads Android with 47% in the UK and 29% in Spain 6 5, so real choice could shift spend to regional firms. Shifting from Google’s vertically integrated stack (where one company controls multiple layers of buying and selling) would follow.
Europe’s programmatic ad market (automated trading of digital ads) totals $108.23 billion in 2025 and $153.36 billion by 2030 7. If remedies force equal bid info access or open AdX to third-party demand, independent SSPs with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant data plus retail media capabilities (where retailers sell ad space using first-party shopper data) could gain Connected TV (CTV) and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) deals.