• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 13, 2022

Google’s parent company Alphabet will allow rival advertising intermediaries to place advertisements on YouTube as part of a European Union (EU) antitrust investigation.

This change, according to Reuters, could help Google settle an EU probe from last year without paying a fine.

With the probe, the EU wants to examine whether the largest provider of search and video gave itself an unfair advantage by restricting access by rivals and advertisers with user data.

The EU competition watchdog pointed to Google and made the requirement that advertisers use its Ad Manager to display ads on YouTube and potential restrictions on the way in which rivals serve ads on YouTube, according to the report.

The commission also wanted to know more about Google's requirement that advertisers use its Display & Video 360 and Google Ads to buy YouTube ads.

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also launched an investigation into Google’s advertising practices last month. This investigation -- the second probe -- says the company could be “distorting competition and may have illegally favored its own services.”

Sources told Reuters that Google will need to offer more than ads on YouTube to address all the concerns the organization has before it will agree to a deal, but added that talks “seemed to be on the right track.”