Italy fines Google for display of gambling ads on YouTube

Rome: The Italian Communications Authority (AGCOM) on Tuesday issued an order imposing a fine on Google Ireland Limited, amounting to $764,000, for violating a ban on gambling advertising on Google subsidiary platform YouTube.
“It is the first measure taken by the office against a video hosting service provider (Video Sharing Platform) for allowing the distribution of banned advertisements relating to games with cash winnings,” AGCOM said in a statement.
The regulator has also imposed a $713,000 fine against a private company, Top Ads ltd, which promoted gambling through its website and its Spike channels on YouTube. The investigation found violations on the part of both the ad creator and the Google-controlled YouTube platform.
At the same time, AGCOM recalled that in October 2020 it issued a similar sanction against Google, imposing a fine of 100,000 euros ($101,906) for breaching the ban on advertising of gambling games. The regulator pointed out that “YouTube was found liable for not taking action to remove the illegal content that was massively distributed on its platform by a third party.”
In addition to the fines, AGCOM decided to remove 625 illegal materials still appearing on YouTube, as well as on spikslot.com within seven days. In doing so, the regulator referred to recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
In mid-July, the Italian media reported that AGCOM launched a probe against Google on suspicion of abuse of a dominant position in the field of users’ personal data. (UNI/SPUTNIK)