Google made a significant move to close an EU antitrust investigation by offering to sell its advertising platform, AdX.

The plan was turned down by European publishers, considering it to be insufficient.

After receiving a complaint from the European Publishers Council last year, Google's ad tech division came under regulatory investigation from the EU.

At the same time, the European Commission filed its fourth lawsuit against the tech giant, alleging that Google had favored its own advertising services.

Three lawyers involved in antitrust cases who spoke anonymously said that Google has never before offered to sell an asset in an antitrust case.

The tech giant is believed to be defending against accusations made by antitrust regulators in an American courtroom as they attempt to force Google to sell its Ad Manager product, which includes AdX and Google's publisher ad server, or DFP.

According to reports, publishers rejected Google's plan as they wanted it to divest more than simply AdX in order to address conflicts of interest arising from its involvement in nearly every stage of the ad tech supply chain. They stated the offer was known to the EU antitrust enforcer.

Ad Exchange, or AdX, is a marketplace where publishers can offer advertisers real-time access to their unsold ad space for purchase.

To eradicate conflicts of interest, EU antitrust commissioner Margrethe Vestager recommended last year that Google sell up its sell-side tools, DFP and AdX.

However, given the intricacy of the case, the Commission may decide to order Google to cease its alleged anti-competitive conduct in the upcoming months rather than forcing it to relinquish assets for the time being.

They stated that if Google disregards the first EU ruling, which is anticipated to be made in the upcoming months, a divestiture order might be issued later.

Google's advertising income for 2023 was $237.85 billion, or 77 percent of total revenue, and included revenue from search services, Gmail, Google Play, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Ad Manager, AdMob, and AdSense. It is the most widely used digital advertising platform worldwide.