Italy: Closed investigation into Google for alleged abuse of dominance in display advertising market

On 12 October 2021, the Italian competition and markets authority (autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato) closed its investigation into Google for abuse of dominance, because, as of 22 June 2021, the EU Commission had initiated proceedings having the same scope. Specifically, the authority alleges Google to have violated Art. 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) by abusing its dominant position in the market of display advertising. Google was alleged to prevent rivals from competing in the market by taking advantage of the vast amount of data it collects.