Google’s dominance over the online ad market has been scrutinized time and time again, and this week the European Union is expressing its concerns that Google has breached the EU’s antitrust laws, and that the company should break up its ad business.

The EU today announced that it has informed Google of a “preliminary view” where the EU feels Google has breached antitrust rules in its ad tech. The root cause appears to be Google’s tendency to favor its own ads in its products, as well as deterring competitors.

This can be seen, the EU says, by looking at how Google handles its AdX ad exchange. On the publisher side, DFP (DoubleClick for Publishers) runs ad selection through AdX, while Google Ads and DV360 (Display & Video 360) provide buying tools for advertises that also running through AdX. This cuts out third-party ad exchanges entirely.

It’s further mentioned that a “behavioural remedy” won’t cut it in this case, and that Google should be required to break up its ad business through divestment. This would effectively put Google’s advertising products outside of Google itself.

This preliminary view doesn’t necessarily match the outcome of an actual ruling against Google, but it certainly sets the tone for what might come.

Should Google be forced to break up its ad business outside of the company, it would deal an absolutely massive blow to the company. Google’s ad businesses account for a huge majority of the company’s revenue, nearly 80% as Reuters points out. Google’s ads touch many of its core products, such as Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and more.

More on Google:

EU upholds antitrust ruling against Google’s actions on Android, drops fine to €4.1 billion

Google Shopping’s ‘monopoly-like’ position leads to a new $2.4 billion lawsuit in the EU

EU lawmakers push for all Android phones to to copy the Pixel 6’s five years of updates

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