11 October 21
On 28 October 2020, the Italian Antitrust Authority launched an investigation against Google for violation of art. 102 TFUE with regard to the availability and use of data for the processing of display advertising campaigns.
Allegedly, the distortion on the digital advertising market has been caused, on the one hand, by Google’s refusal to provide the Google ID decryption keys and by excluding third-party tracking pixels and, on the other hand, by having used tracers that allow the advertising intermediate services to reach a targeting capacity that some equally efficient competitors are not able to replicate. The anti-competitive conducts under investigation seem to have a significant impact on competition on the digital advertising market with extensive repercussions on competitors and consumers. The absence of competition in the intermediate services of digital advertising could practically reduce the resources allocated to website producers and publishers, thus impoverishing the quality of content directed to final consumers. Furthermore, the absence of effective competition based on merit could discourage technological innovation for the development of less invasive technologies and advertising techniques for consumers.