Italy’s telecom watchdog Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM) slapped a fine of 100k Euros against Google Ireland Ltd. for violation of gambling advertising prohibitions in Italy’s Dignity Decree, reported CalvinAyre.
The amount of penalty imposed was not specified but sources in the French media reported it to be €100k.
The matter had been going for quite sometime now and the Indian Wire had reported about the proceedings in this aspect earlier.
Italy had imposed a complete ban on all forms of gambling advertisements by passing Dignity Decree in 2018. Article 9 of the said Decree bans advertisements for foreign gambling operators that appear in Google results.
However, AGCOM found Google guilty of paid search ads for Sublimecasino.com, a French marketing affiliate and stated that Google cannot hide behind the argument that it was merely an instrument for the said company through which Italian gamblers got to know of Sublimecasino.com.
Google has been struggling to stick to its own anti-gambling policy and often lands up in conflict with different jurisdictions.
Recently, Google Play Store took down India’s Paytm app from its store for alleged violation of its gambling policies. However, it was restored after Paytm scrapped the feature in issue.
Patm had found Google’s actions ‘arbitrary’.