The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation against the American corporation Google due to suspicions of violating EU competition rules in the field of online advertising.

According to "

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The formal investigation will, inter alia, examine whether Google is distorting competition by restricting third party access to user data for advertising purposes on sites and? in applications, storing such data for your own use.

In 2019, EU display ad spending was estimated at around € 20 billion. Google provides a number of services with advertising technologies, is an intermediary between advertisers and publishers for the purpose of displaying ads on websites or mobile applications.

The Commission's investigation will focus on display advertising, where Google offers a range of services to both advertisers and publishers.

In early June, the French competition authority fined Google 220 million euros for promoting its services in the online advertising sector to the detriment of competitors.

In May, Italy's antitrust regulator announced a decision to fine Google more than € 100 million for abuse of dominance.