YouTube faces close scrutiny in Europe’s new Google probe

It’s Europe’s fourth big investigation into Google, and this time video-sharing site YouTube seems to be getting some special attention. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced last week that it had concerns that Google is favoring its own online display ad technology services, therefore potentially breaching antitrust rules in the EU.

As part of the probe, the commission said it will examine “in particular” what it described as the “obligation” to use Google services like the Google Ads platform to purchase online display ads on YouTube. Display ads are a form of paid advertising that can be found on websites, apps, and social media. These ads come in several different formats and sizes.

It also said that it will assess the “obligation” to use Google Ad Manager, a platform that facilitates both the buying and selling of ads across multiple ad networks, to serve online display ads on YouTube, as well as potential restrictions placed by Google on rival services and how they serve online display ads.

YouTube’s ads made up around $6 billion of Alphabet’s first-quarter revenues in 2021. That was 11% of the firm’s total income for that period.

YouTube faces close scrutiny in Europe’s new Google probe, CNBC, Jun 28