France Fines Google for Mistreating Search Advertisers

By Sam Schechner 

PARIS -- France's competition authority fined Alphabet Inc.'s Google EUR150 million ($167 million) for mistreating advertisers who buy keyword-based ads on its dominant search engine, the latest in a series of antitrust probes and decisions against big tech firms in both Europe and the U.S.

The French authority on Friday said Google abused its dominance of the market for ads displayed in search results by suspending advertisers in France in a random and unjustified fashion, imposing significant losses on those sites.

The authority ordered Google to pay a fine and to stop the "brutal and unjustified" suspensions of search advertisers and to clarify its rules for suspensions. The authority also said that Google should have a system to alert advertisers when they risk suspension from its Ads system.

"Google has the power of life or death for certain companies that live by these advertisements," said Isabelle de Silva, chairman of France's competition authority, at a press conference to announce the decision. "We don't contest Google's right to impose rules. But the rules must be clear and imposed equally to all advertisers."

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company has in the past said that it removes advertisers for violating its rules for deceptive or fraudulent advertising.

The French decision comes as big tech companies including Google ace growing antitrust scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic.

Write to Sam Schechner at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 20, 2019 05:24 ET (10:24 GMT)

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