One year after the European Commission fined Google €2.95 billion for abusing its dominance in adtech, the company has generated an estimated €105 billion in EU revenue. Campaigners say the figures show why a fine alone is not enough and are urging Brussels to force structural changes to Google’s ad business.
€104,893,892,551 and counting was the figure flashing this Friday on a campaign website, representing the estimated EU revenue generated by Google one year since Brussels fined the company €2.95 billion for abusing its dominant position in advertising technology. New analysis estimates that Google generates around €288 million a day in EU revenue, more than €2 billion every week. Based on that, it takes just a little more than 1 week to cover the fine value. The calculation is based on overall revenues reported by Google companies in 19 EU countries.
For Claire Godfrey, Executive Director of the Balanced Economy Project, that’s why remedy matters more than the fine. “A year ago, the European Commission found that Google had broken the law and said plainly that only a structural remedy would end the conflict of interest at the heart of its ad business. Google’s answer was to offer more promises.”
EU Perspectives reached out to Google for a reaction. Before publication, the company did not respond.
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Fines are a cost of doing business
The €2.95 billion fine is not unusual in its scale relative to Big Tech’s revenues. Proton, which tracks how quickly major tech companies generate enough revenue to cover fines, calculated that Google’s parent company Alphabet generated the equivalent of $4.24 billion in penalties imposed worldwide in 2025 in roughly three weeks.
The problem is not exclusive to Google. The European Parliament warned that fines “often failed to have a deterring effect for large technology companies” because they are considered “costs of doing business.”
Under EU competition law, fines can reach up to 10% of a company’s worldwide annual turnover. In that context, Thomas Höppner, a partner at Geradin Partners representing media and technology associations involved in the Google case, told EU Perspectives “The fine made headlines, but the real significance lies in the obligation to resolve a deep conflict of interest,” he said.
The structural problem
When Brussels imposed the penalty, it also ordered the company to solve its “inherent conflicts of interest” running through its adtech business. Google was given 60 days to explain how it intended to do so.
The conflict stems from Google occupying multiple positions in the same advertising market. Its tools help advertisers buy space, while Google Ad Manager helps publishers sell it. In between them sits Google’s AdX advertising exchange.
The Commission found that Google used those positions to favour AdX over competing exchanges. Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera said at the time that a structural remedy, potentially including the sale of part of Google’s adtech business, could be necessary to end the conflict of interest.
Google submitted its compliance plan in November. It proposed product and interoperability changes but rejected a breakup of the business, arguing that its approach would address the Commission’s concerns without disrupting European publishers and advertisers. The Commission is still assessing whether those measures are sufficient.
