The EU reportedly launches another antitrust investigation into Google, targeting search engine advertising pricing

As a frequent recipient of hefty fines from the European Union, Google has recently once again become the subject of an EU antitrust investigation, due to concerns that it may be engaging in illegal manipulation of search engine advertising pricing.

According to media reports, on February 9 local time, the European Commission sent a letter to potentially affected companies, suspecting that Google may be “artificially raising transaction prices” in ad auctions, thereby “harming the interests of advertisers.”

The European Commission stated that if there is evidence supporting these suspicions, it could violate EU competition rules, and the relevant violations could result in fines of up to 10% of the company’s global annual turnover.

According to Google’s financial report released last week, Google’s total revenue for 2025 was $402.836 billion, which theoretically means Google could face fines exceeding $40 billion (equivalent to 33.7 billion euros).

In an accompanying information request document, EU regulators asked market participants about Google’s dominant position in multiple online advertising markets.

Sources familiar with the matter revealed that although the antitrust investigation into Google is still in its early stages, it may be officially announced soon by EU Antitrust Chief Teresa Rivera.

Similar allegations have previously been made against Google by the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ had attempted to force Google to sell its Chrome browser business, but the judge dismissed this request.

Google has previously been fined a total of 9.5 billion euros (about $11.3 billion) by the EU. In September last year, the EU fined Google nearly 3 billion euros (about $3.56 billion) for distorting competition in the advertising technology industry and violating antitrust rules.

Furthermore, this latest potential investigation is just one of a series of probes launched by the EU against Google in recent times.

In December last year, the European Commission announced an antitrust investigation into Google’s use of online content to develop artificial intelligence (AI).

In recent years, increased regulation of large tech companies by the EU has drawn criticism from the U.S. side. The U.S. has repeatedly pressured the EU to relax its tech regulation rules and even threatened to impose additional tariffs. If the EU further fines Google, it could intensify tensions with the U.S. Trump administration.

(Source: Caixin)