France Fines Google $268M Over Antitrust

Google will pay 220 million euros ($268 million) and change how its advertising services work, under a settlement with the French Competition Authority, said the agency Monday. This arose from complaints from News Corp., Le Figaro1 group and Rossel La Voix group about Google's DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) ad service and AdX listing platform. The authority said Google abused its dominant market position by giving preferential treatment to proprietary technologies offered under the Ad Manager brand with regard to the operation of the DFP ad server -- which allows publishers of websites and mobile applications to sell advertising space -- and sell-side platform (SSP) AdX, which organizes auctions by which publishers sell ads. Google penalized its rivals on the SSP market and publishers hard-hit by falling newspaper subscriptions and drop in associated revenue, the FCA said. The decision is the first in the world "to look into complex algorithmic auctions processes through which online display advertising works," said FCA President Isabelle de Silva. Google didn't dispute the facts and offered commitments the authority accepted, including giving publishers better access to data on ad space auctions and making Ad Manager more flexible by letting publishers mix and match technology platforms, blogged Google France Legal Director Maria Gomri. Modifications will be tested in coming months before being rolled out more broadly, including globally, she said.