ICLE Argues the European Commission’s €2.95 Billion Google Fine Will Backfire
BRUSSELS (8 September 2025) – The €2.95 billion fine the European Commission has assessed Google for allegedly abusive practices in online-advertising technology could further complicate EU-U.S. trade negotiations, according to International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) scholars, who caution that competition policy should not be wielded as a tool to generate revenue.
ICLE Director of Competition Policy Dirk Auer shared the following:
“The European Commission’s call for a breakup is a serious misstep that risks escalating trade tensions and ultimately harming European consumers. The breakup remedy touted by the Commission is largely unprecedented in this type of proceeding, and the Commission’s press release betrays a lack of conceptual clarity about how Google’s conduct is supposed to harm consumers. While the fine is portrayed as modest, it represents a substantial share of Google’s AdX revenue and could chill innovation in the sector. Without a clear consumer-welfare rationale, such measures are unlikely to deliver the benefits Europeans deserve”.
To schedule an interview with Dirk, contact Jim Fellinger at [email protected].
Dirk argued in a May op-ed in The Hill that the EU’s fines could have dire consequences amid the current trade spat with the United States: “Europe’s tech battle could cost it the trade war”.
About ICLE
The International Center for Law & Economics is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center working with a roster of more than one-hundred academic affiliates and research centers from around the globe. ICLE scholars promote the use of law and economics methodologies to inform public policy debates.