AGCOM Italy Fines Google For Violating Gambling Ads Ban

Google has again been fined. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Italy's communications authority announced on Tuesday, August 2 that it has fined tech giant Google, which is owned by parent company Alphabet Inc., 750,000 euros (IDR 11.4 billion) for allegedly violating a ban on gambling advertisements on its YouTube video platform.

AGCOM Italia said in a statement that it had also fined TOP ADS, the creator of the advertising content, 700,000 euros. While Google itself did not immediately comment on the report.

So far, Google has also been fined in many countries. The most in Russia. Earlier, Russia's competition watchdog again fined Alphabet's Google 2 billion rubles (IDR 504 billion) on Tuesday, July 26 for abusing its dominant position in the video hosting market.

The decision is the latest multimillion-dollar fine as part of Moscow's increasingly tough campaign against foreign technology companies.

Furthermore, Russia's Federal Antitrust Service (FAS) also said Google had "abused its dominant position in the market for YouTube video hosting services", without providing additional details.

Google Alphabet was again fined by the Russian government. This time they were fined 21.1 billion rubles (IDR 5.5 trillion) on Monday, July 18 by a Moscow court for repeated failures to remove content deemed illegal by Russia. According to Russia's communications regulator, Google continues to create "fake news" about the conflict in Ukraine.