Online Advertising: The French Competition Decision on Google's Self-Preferencing in Ad Tech

Concurrences eCompetititions Sep 2021 II

25 Pages Posted: 24 Sep 2021

See all articles by Thomas Hoppner

Thomas Hoppner

Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau; Hausfeld RA LLP

Maximilian Volmar

Hausfeld

Philipp Westerhoff

Hausfeld RA LLP

Date Written: September 23, 2021

Abstract

On 7 June 2021, the French Competition Authority (“FCA”) concluded an investigation into Google’s ad tech business. The FCA (i) found that Google abused a pan-European dominant position and thereby infringed EU competition law by favoring its proprietary display advertis-ing intermediation services, (ii) fined Google €220 million and (iii) rendered commitments man-datory that Google had offered and intends to implement globally.

The Decision is only one effort among many to restore competition in ad tech. Embedding the Decision in the global debate on competition in online advertising, this article summarizes the technical and economic background, outlines the abuses of dominance identified by the FCA, and assesses the legal implications of the Decision for affected parties as well as for (remaining) specific regulation of the conflicts of interest within the ad tech markets.

Keywords: antitrust, competition, ad tech, digital markets, Google, self-preferencing, DMA, online advertising

JEL Classification: K21, L12, L41, L86, M37, 031

Suggested Citation

Höppner, Thomas and Volmar, Maximilian and Westerhoff, Philipp, Online Advertising: The French Competition Decision on Google's Self-Preferencing in Ad Tech (September 23, 2021). Concurrences eCompetititions Sep 2021 II, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3929310 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3929310

Thomas Höppner (Contact Author)

Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau ( email )

Hochschulring 1
Wildau, 15745
Germany

Hausfeld RA LLP ( email )

Walter-Benjamin Platz 6
Berlin, 10629
Germany

Maximilian Volmar

Hausfeld ( email )

Kurfürstendamm 218
Berlin, 10719
Germany

Philipp Westerhoff

Hausfeld RA LLP ( email )

Kurfürstendamm 218
Berlin, 10719
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.hausfeld.com

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
571
Abstract Views
1,661
Rank
93,118
PlumX Metrics