By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares were a shade weaker in Tuesday’s premarket trading after the European Union opened another antitrust probe into it, this time focusing on the advertising business of its Google unit.
The European Commission will assess the restrictions Google has placed on the ability of advertisers, publishers and other third parties to access data about user identity and their behavior.
“We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack. . .We will also be looking at Google's policies on user tracking to make sure they are in line with fair competition,” Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said in a press release.
The case is the latest in a series of probes against the online giant for allegations ranging from impinging on users’ privacy to allowing unauthorized use of copyright data.
In a separate case that brought relief to Google’s YouTube service, the European Court of Justice today held that online platforms are not liable for users uploading unauthorized works, unless the platforms failed to take quick action to remove or block access to the content.