Google offers ad-tech changes in EU antitrust case but a breakup is not one of them

LONDON (AP) – Google has offered to make major changes to its business practices to resolve a European Union antitrust case targeting its ad-tech business, but they don’t include breaking up the company.

The compliance plan Google submitted to the European Commission – the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust enforcer – includes “immediate product changes” to end specific practices, the company said in a blog post.

“Our proposal fully addresses the EC’s decision without a disruptive break-up that would harm the thousands of European publishers and advertisers who use Google tools to grow their business,” the company said Friday.

Google also said it’s appealing the commission’s decision to slap the company with a 2.95 billion euro ($3.4 billion) fine in September for breaching the bloc’s competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services. It accused Google of abusing its dominance by favoring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competitors, online advertisers and publishers.

As part of the punishment, Google was also required to come up with proposals to end what the Commission called “self-preferencing practices” and stop “conflicts of interest.”

The Commission said it would force Google to sell off parts of its business if it wasn’t satisfied with the company’s proposed remedies.

Google’s changes include giving publishers more pricing options on its ad management platform. To address conflicts of interest, the company is modifying its ad tools to give publishers and advertisers more choice and flexibility.

“We will now analyse Google’s proposed measures to assess whether they effectively bring the self-preferencing practices to an end and address the situation of inherent conflicts of interest,” the Commission said in a statement.

Google is also fighting efforts on the other side of the Atlantic to dismantle it. The Justice Department has taken the company to federal court to force a divestment after a judge ruled that its ad network was an illegal monopoly.