Tech giant fined for third time in a week after being hit with multimillion-dollar penalties in US and France.Published On 5 Sep 20255 Sep 2025The European Union has imposed a penalty of 2.95 billion euros ($3.45bn) on Google for favouring its own advertising services, marking the fourth time the tech giant has been fined in its decade-long fight with the bloc’s competition regulators.The European Commission accused Google of distorting competition in the 27-nation bloc after investigating a complaint from the European Publishers Council, moving to rein in the tech firm despite threats of retaliation from United States President Donald Trump.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listEU competition chief Teresa Ribera had originally planned to hand out the fine on Monday, but delayed her move after meeting opposition from EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic over concerns about the potential impact on US promises to lower tariffs on European cars under a trade deal agreed in July.The Commission said Google favoured its own online display technology services to the detriment of rivals and online publishers and that it has abused its market power from 2014 until today.“Google abused its dominant position in adtech, harming publishers, advertisers, and consumers. This behaviour is illegal under EU antitrust rules,” Ribera said on Friday.Regulators had been probing Google over adtech since 2021 and in 2023 recommended the company sell part of its ad services to ensure fair competition.Google, a subsidiary of US tech giant Alphabet, criticised the EU decision and said it would challenge it in court.Lee-Anne Mulholland, the firm’s global head of regulatory affairs, said it required “changes that will hurt thousand …
