Google was accused of abusing its dominance over advertising technology to crush competition as the European Union fired off an antitrust charge sheet that threatens a breakup of parts of the lucrative business, kicking off a process that could take years to resolve.
The Alphabet Inc. unit had favored its own ad exchange program over its rivals' and bolstered the company’s central role in the ad tech supply chain as well as Google’s ability to charge a high fee for its service, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, said Wednesday at a press conference.
“The commission’s preliminary view is therefore that only the mandatory divestment by Google of part of its services would address its competition concerns,” Vestager said.
