According to European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, the EU is conducting a major antitrust investigation into Google’s advertisements. That said the European Commissioner for Competition on Friday during an online event organized by European retailers.
Vestager said at the event that technology is a high priority, “especially as our habits have changed a lot in the last 12 months,” Vestager said, according to Bloomberg. In January, regulators are said to have started collecting information about Google’s advertising practices. Google declined to comment on the investigation to Bloomberg.
The Google investigation isn’t the only ongoing antitrust investigation into major tech companies. Apple, Amazon and Facebook are also under a magnifying glass. Vestager wants to use these studies to ensure that large technology companies do not stand in the way of fair competition. Vestager previously talked about splitting large tech companies if this were necessary.
The European Commission has previously conducted antitrust investigations into Google. This was followed by high fines for the tech giant. In total, Google has already had to pay more than 8 billion euros.
Earlier this year, Vestager also said that large tech companies such as Facebook and Google should not just stop their services in the EU. If they do, an antitrust investigation could be launched and potentially prevent these large providers from leaving.