By Edith Hancock
A group of 18 former European heads of state have called on the European Commission to break up Google's highly lucrative advertising-technology business, claiming it erodes Europe's media landscape.
The company--which is owned by Alphabet--sells advertising space on websites and takes ads from advertisers, generating vast revenues from its ad tech unit.
"We write in support of bold structural actions to end Google's monopoly over digital advertising technologies," the letter, signed by former leaders including ex-Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and France's Dominique de Villepin, said Friday.
"Recent events have underscored how the consolidation of power over vital tech platforms jeopardizes our independence and undermines efforts to enforce our laws," they wrote, adding that the urgent task is to reduce Europe's reliance on foreign platforms.
Google's dominance in the space "has stifled competition and consolidated its control over every segment of the ad-tech market," the letter said.
The EU's antitrust regulator is in the final stages of an investigation into Google's ad-tech business and sent formal charges to the tech giant in 2023, suggesting it could order Google to divest part of the business.
"As we have said before, while we disagree with the European Commission's view, we have been engaging constructively," a Google spokesperson said Friday, adding that the company is committed to creating value for publishers and advertisers.
Former competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager in 2023 called the company "pervasive" across the sector's value chain and said that a divestment could ease the regulator's concerns the company is abusing its dominant position in the digital economy.
Teresa Ribera, the commission's new chief competition enforcer, told Bloomberg Television last month that a divestment order is still on the table, saying the European regulator is working with its counterparts globally.
"European regulators investigating anticompetitive practices in digital markets should be given the resources and authority to implement structural remedies that restore fair competition," the letter said. It added that the EU executive should use its own tech laws to help support innovation in Europe.
The letter comes amid concerns the EU executive might water down its previously enthusiastic efforts to regulate Big Tech companies after President-elect Donald Trump takes office next week.
Write to Edith Hancock at edith.hancock@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-17-25 1106ET