Beyond the U.S. trial, here is Europe’s antitrust case against Google’s ad tech monopoly explained

As the U.S. trudges through its high-profile case against Google’s monopoly over online advertising this week, Europe is pursuing the same target – just without the courtroom drama. Time for a look at how that’s unfolding. 

Let’s start with the basics: earlier this month, the European Commission – the European Union’s executive arm – hit Google with a €2.95 billion fine for abusing its control over how ads are bought and sold in a market it also happens to run. But that was just the start. It also gave Google 60 days to come back with a fix. If it can’t – or won’t – the commission has said a breakup of Google’s ad tech business could be the only resolution.

This sounds like the antitrust case against Google in the U.S: it’s not a carbon copy of the U.S. case, but the parallels are hard to ignore. For starters, both the European Commission and the Department of Justice’s efforts trace back to the same academic groundwork: research that argued Google’s dominance stems from a built-in conflict of interest – one that wouldn’t be tolerated in most industries. In each case, the regulators came to the same conclusion. Fines aren’t working. Structural separation is the endgame. 

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.