Italian media watchdog fines Google and Twitch over gambling ads

AGCOM says it received “numerous reports” of breaches of Italy’s ban on gambling ads.

Italy.- The Italian media and communications regulator AGCOM has issued a €2.25m fine against Google and a €900,000 fine against Twitch for breaches of Italy’s blanket ban on gambling ads. The fines were issued against the subsidiaries Google Ireland and Twitch Interactive Germany.

AGCOM said it began an investigation after receiving “numerous reports”. It found that more than 80 YouTube and Twitch channels distributed over 20,000 videos that promoted slots, sports betting, and scratch cards.

Under Italy’s Dignity Decree of 2019, all forms of gambling advertising are prohibited. Although the videos were uploaded by third parties, AGCOM holds the platform owners responsible for the distribution of the material. TikTok escaped a similar fine because the regulator deemed it not to have a contractual relationship with the content creators behind the videos.

AGCOM said that the platforms removed the content when alerted by the authority. It ordered Google and Twitch to avoid future incidents.

It’s not the first time that Google has been fined for breaches of Italy’s advertising rules. However, some previous fines have been overruled on appeal.

In September, the Administrative Court of Lazio ruled that AGCOM must drop a €750,000 fine levied against Google after finding that the search giant did not breach the rules of Italy’s Dignity Decree. AGCOM argued that Google had breached the law because search results and its video-sharing platform YouTube had displayed links promoting gambling. However, the Lazio court agreed with Google that the links were promoted by independent advertisers using its platforms, not by Google directly.

The Lazio Court found that Google had been “effective and competent” in removing illegal gambling content.