Below is a roundup of last week’s notable industry news, with summaries and our opinions. Another week, another Google antitrust ruling…

Google hit with $3.45 billion EU antitrust fine over adtech practices
Source: Reuters
September 5th, 2025

Summary: This is the company's fourth major penalty in a decade-long regulatory battle with the EU. 

The EU fine stems from a European Publishers Council complaint that Google has been giving its own ad tech and AdX exchange an unfair advantage since 2014, charging high fees while hurting competitors. The European Commission is threatening stronger remedies—including a potential break-up—if Google doesn't address its "inherent conflicts of interest." 

Google has 60 days to propose a compliance plan and 30 days to implement it. The European Publishers Council says a fine won't stop Google from abusing its market position in ad tech. 

This comes on the heels of Google being found guilty of monopoly in TWO separate US cases. First was search, in which Judge Mehta issued disappointingly light remedies last week that left the industry frustrated. Now there's ad tech, where Google was specifically found to be a monopoly in the open-web display ad server and ad exchange markets. The remedy phase trial for that case begins September 22nd, with Judge Brinkema ultimately deciding the final penalties. 

Google just filed its proposed remedies for the ad tech monopoly case, and as expected, they’re light—behavioral changes mostly limited to open-web display ads, with no divestitures. It’s stuff Google should have been doing all along, like letting publishers access AdX demand through competing ad servers and permitting a Prebid integration. The DOJ, however, wants blood: They're demanding Google divest AdX, set aside 50% of net revenues from AdX and DFP for publisher compensation, and provide extensive migration support to help publishers use alternative tech.

All this while Trump threatens retaliation against the EU for its scrutiny of American tech companies.

Opinion: Now what? On one hand, the fine is large and the European Commission is threatening to take further action. On the other hand, a 3.45B fine is a drop in the bucket for Google and the EU is in a delicate trade war with the US. Trump is making a stink, so maybe the EU just lets this go?

Google's proposed remedies for the US case are silly. "We'll pull back from open-web display ads!" Google declares—while conveniently not mentioning this business has been shrinking for three consecutive years anyway. On one hand, we suspect Judge Brinkema will ask for more. On the other hand, Judge Mehta surprisingly didn’t ask for much in the search case.

If Google skates on antitrust penalties for its ad tech practices, both in the US and EU, the company will become the poster child for how to be a convicted monopolist without facing meaningful consequences. The message to other big tech players would be crystal clear: push boundaries, accumulate market power, and weather the regulatory storm. Amazon's already becoming an ad tech powerhouse in the mold of Google. Meta's increasingly aggressive with its ad offerings. Apple’s lurking.

For the ad industry, a toothless Google resolution would cement the status quo. Publishers would remain stuck with limited alternatives. Independent ad tech would continue fighting for scraps. And marketers would keep dealing with the same lack of transparency and choice they've complained about for years.

The outcome of these antitrust ad tech cases against Google could set the tenor for the digital ad space, and business more broadly speaking, for many years to come. As you can tell, a lot is on the line…

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