EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS

EU ANTITRUST: HOT TOPICS & NEXT STEPS 2022

Prague, Czechia

Google, Antitrust, and Digital Market Act: Is There New Hope for the AdTech Market? Jaroslav Denemark Charles University Faculty of Law, Department of the European Law náměstí Curieových 901/7, Prague, 116 40 Czechia e-mail: jaroslav.denemark@gmail.com

Abstract Google is one of the biggest players in the European Union’s, even the world’s, market regarding the search engines and other related digital services. As such, it is used by many entrepreneurs to offer their products and services in a targeted manner to the consumers, for online advertisement is regarded as one of the most powerful channels concerning e-commerce. Nonetheless, due to its monopolized status, Google tends to breach the EU’s competition regulation on various levels. The European Commission had on different occasions concluded that Google had used its monopoly for its own benefits and against the competition regulation. Google’s reluctant approach towards the Union’s antitrust regulation is one of the reasons why many demand clear and complex digital market regulation. The European Commission listened to such requests and submitted a proposal for the digital markets act. The DMA is supposed to have a large effect on the significant market competitors aiming to regulate behaviors such as Google’s. The potential of the DMA to combat the antitrust wrongdoing of Google has yet to be verified, however the possible impact can already be analyzed. Keywords: ad tech, antitrust, digital market act, Google JEL Classification: K210 1. Introduction Regulation of the Digital Single Market is one of the challenges that comes alongside with the unstoppable development of the modern technologies. The aim of the regulation is (or at least should be) to build a “healthier and more competitive” Digital Single Market (Reyna, 2017, pp. 204–207). This especially means promoting regulation that encourages innovations and consumers’ interests, such as free choice (Reyna, 2017, pp. 204–207). In order to fulfill such goals, it is especially crucial to address “gatekeepers”, i.e., private companies through which

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