Italy’s antitrust regulator announced on Wednesday that it is investigating the American giant Google for abusing its dominant position in the online advertising market.
Google is suspected of using the data it has collected through its own applications to stop rival operators from competing effectively.
The investigation would be completed by November 2021.
The institution states that online advertising sales are the second most important source of revenue in the media sector, and the decrease of competition in the market could deprive publishers and those involved in news sites of very important resources.
On Tuesday, joint teams from AGCM and Italian police searched some Google headquarters in the country.
In 2019, the Italian online advertising market recorded revenues of over 3.3 billion euros.
