Google loses €750k Italian gambling ad fine fight at EU court

On Thursday, July 16, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued its judgment in a case challenging Google's appeal of an Italian fine. Italy's communications authority had imposed a €750,000 ($854,250) penalty in 2022 for gambling advertising on YouTube. Google had contested the fine in Italian administrative court, which sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based CJEU on whether EU telecoms rules granted it exemption from liability for third-party content. The YouTube videos promoting online gambling had been created and uploaded by a content creator who maintained a commercial partnership arrangement with Google. Google's core legal argument was straightforward: it should be shielded from liability under EU telecoms rules because it did not upload the content itself—a third party did. The company emphasized that Big Tech has repeatedly invoked this exemption to defend against regulatory action and user claims seeking to hold platforms responsible for harmful material on their services, particularly given growing concerns about social media's effects on children. However, the CJEU rejected this reasoning. The court established that platforms can claim exemption from liability only if they "act as an intermediary service provider carrying out a strictly technical, automated and passive activity, excluding any knowledge or control over the information which is transmitted or stored." The court found that Google did not meet this standard. "That is not the case where an operator reviews, for the purpose of concluding a commercial partnership contract, the main theme of a video channel, that channel's most viewed videos or newest videos and the associated metadata," the CJEU stated. By reviewing the content creator's channel and curating which content to promote through partnership, Google had exercised sufficient control and knowledge to forfeit the exemption. The ruling requires the Italian administrative court to now proceed to judgment on the case's merits, applying the CJEU's legal standard. Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Google's loss marks a significant erosion of the liability exemption that Big Tech platforms have wielded as their primary legal defense against regulatory action in Europe. The company had argued that because third parties uploaded the gambling-promotion videos, EU telecoms rules—which grant exemptions to intermediaries acting in a purely technical capacity—protected it from liability. However, the CJEU's logic distinguishes between passive hosting and active curation: by reviewing a content creator's channel and videos before entering into a commercial partnership, Google crossed the line from intermediary into participant. This distinction matters because it establishes that platforms cannot claim immunity simply by pointing to third-party uploads; their own decision-making about which partners and content to promote can establish liability. The ruling arrives amid global concern about social media's impact on children—a concern that has driven regulators and users to press tech companies to take responsibility for the content they amplify through partnerships and algorithmic promotion.