EU probes Google's advertising practices

The European Commission (EC) is obtaining information from advertisers about Google's practices as part of its investigation into the search engine's services.

Google, which is facing two EC investigations into its advertising practices, said it was cooperating in the probe.

The EU antitrust regulator wants to know via a 13-page questionnaire the impact of using the default setting ‘Include Google Display Network’ for search campaigns on Google Ads. It also asked whether advertisers receive rebates when they use Google intermediaries.

The questionnaire also asks whether accessing YouTube is tied to the selection of an intermediary and if Google’s integration of its online ad delivery unit DoubleClick impacted advertisers.

The EC is also seeking information about Google's plan to phase out third-party cookies on the Chrome browser by the end of 2022.

Google, the world’s largest online search engine, has been hit with fines totaling $10 billion in the last three years for blocking rivals in online advertising, online shopping, and Android smartphones.

Google and Facebook collectively get more than half of global internet ad sales.