The EU has ruled that Google is abusing its market power in online advertising. The company must pay a fine of 2.95 billion euros for this in Europe. But fines alone achieve little. Google still needs to be split up. Although it has been postponed, it is fortunately not off the table.
On September 5, 2025, the EU Commission announced that Google had abused its market power in online advertising. Google had favoured its own auction server AdX for advertisements, thereby strengthening its position and allowing it to charge high fees. The tech company must pay a fine of 2.95 billion euros for this.
That is positive, but it is not enough. Google can easily pay billions in fines. In the first three months of 2025 alone, Google made a profit of 34.5 billion US dollars. Fines do not change the structural problem, namely Google’s monopoly power.
60-day deadline for Google
Another aspect of the EU decision is therefore important: Google must submit measures within 60 days to prevent further abuse of its market power. If Google’s proposals are not sufficient, the EU Commission will impose conditions itself.
The bar is set high for Google: specifically, the EU Commission is demanding that Google must end its conflicts of interest in online advertising. The EU Commission writes that it believes this can only be achieved through the sale of parts of the company. This leaves the door wide open for a split-up.
The basic problem: Google’s multiple monopoly
The structural problem is Google’s monopoly position at several levels of online advertising. The tech company not only markets ads in its own search engine or on YouTube. It also dominates the placement of online ads on other websites, especially most media.
When a website is called up, multi-stage auctions run in the background in fractions of a second to determine which ads can be seen on this page. Google dominates all stages of the auction process. It operates the largest server through which publishers offer their advertising space. It also dominates the services that advertisers on the other side use to manage their online ad campaigns. And with AdX, it operates the largest auction server on the market.
The group puts publishers, media and other companies at a disadvantage, collects excessive fees and appropriates the majority of advertising revenue. This weakens the media and therefore democracy – and harms us all as consumers.
Splitting is the right approach
Google’s position of power on several sides of the market inevitably leads to conflicts of interest. Investigations by American and European competition authorities show that Google has abused this control over the various sides of the market in its favor for years. For example, Google’s Adtech server for publishers provided the company’s own AdX with advance information about the bids of other auction services.
This is why the EU Commission writes in its press release that, in its assessment, “only the sale of part of its services by Google would resolve the inherent conflicts of interest”. Translated: Only a break up will solve the problem. As long as the EU Commission maintains this position, a break-up of Google is likely. It is possible that the 60-day deadline for Google is rather intended to secure an upcoming split-up for subsequent court proceedings by giving Google one last chance to make its own proposals.
At the same time, the EU Commission’s support for a clear stance against Google appears to be shaky. The decision against Google was first postponed and then published without a press conference on a Friday afternoon. The transatlantic conflicts in particular play a role here. US President Trump promptly responded to the billion-euro fine with threats against the EU. Google itself is likely to fight against a split and offer insufficient remedies.
A split-up is also being negotiated in the USA
At the same time, the US Department of Justice itself continues to strive to break up Google. Back in April of this year, a US court ruled that Google’s market dominance in online advertising is an illegal monopoly. On September 22, the second part of the proceedings will begin, which will focus on remedial measures. Here, the US Department of Justice is demanding a break up of the AdX auction server. In addition, Google is to offer an independent open source version of the service for publishers. It is also possible that the service will be broken up.
A split-up of Google is therefore still possible on both sides of the Atlantic. Because at a technical level, it is relatively clear that Google’s multiple dominance in online advertising with its conflicts of interest cannot be defended. A split is the appropriate instrument for this. Penalties are not enough and Google can always circumvent behavioral requirements. But the political dynamics and Google’s great political influence continue to create uncertainty.
It is therefore important that there are clear voices in favor of splitting up. We will continue to campaign for this in the coming weeks with actions and contributions to the specialist debate on break-ups. For the EU to take consistent action against the power of tech companies, we need public pressure and support. We must back the Commissioner responsible, Teresa Ribera. Support us and help us to break Google’s monopoly:
