EU Court rules Google cannot use hosting shield for gambling ads

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that an online video-hosting platform which concluded a commercial partnership with a channel operator cannot rely on the hosting liability exemption of Article 14 of the e-commerce Directive for gambling advertising. The judgment of the Second Chamber, delivered on 16 July 2026, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series, of 21 September 2026 under reference C/2026/4772. The case, C-421/24, known as AGCOM (Online gambling), reached Luxembourg through a request for a preliminary ruling from Italy’s Consiglio di Stato.

The proceedings set the Italian communications regulator, the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM), against Google Ireland Limited. The referring court asked how Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market — the “Directive on electronic commerce” — applies to a service that hosts videos online when those videos carry advertising for gambling. The language of the case is Italian, and the request for a preliminary ruling was itself published in the Official Journal under reference C/2024/5218.

The Court answered in two operative points, both of which narrow the room for platforms to claim passive-intermediary status.

Video hosting stays inside the e-commerce Directive

On the first point, the Court held that the third indent of Article 1(5)(d) of Directive 2000/31/EC must be interpreted as meaning that an information society service which consists of hosting videos online falls within the scope of that directive even where those videos contain advertising of gambling which involves wagering a stake with monetary value in games of chance. The exclusion of gambling activities from the directive therefore does not remove a video-hosting service from its scope.

When the Article 14 exemption does not apply

On the second point, the Court ruled that Article 14 of Directive 2000/31 does not apply to an operator of an online video platform which concluded, with a person using that platform to broadcast videos on a dedicated channel, a commercial partnership agreement providing for a sharing of advertising revenue. The exemption is equally unavailable where, in connection with the conclusion or performance of that agreement, the operator carried out an examination of the content of that channel, including in particular:

• the main theme of the channel;
• the most viewed videos;
• the newest videos;
• the metadata of those videos.

The parties and the procedural route

The essential elements of the case, as recorded in the Official Journal, are:

• Referring court: Consiglio di Stato (Italy).
• Applicant: Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM).
• Defendant: Google Ireland Limited.
• Case number: C-421/24, AGCOM (Online gambling).
• Deciding formation: Second Chamber of the Court of Justice.
• Date of judgment: 16 July 2026.
• Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/4772, 21 September 2026.
• Language of the case: Italian.

The ruling matters well beyond the two parties. It confirms that video-hosting platforms remain subject to the e-commerce Directive even when the hosted content is gambling advertising, and it ties the loss of the Article 14 safe harbour to the commercial and editorial involvement described by the Court. National regulators such as AGCOM, advertisers and platform operators now have a clearer test for deciding when a hosting provider has taken an active role in the content it carries.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, C series, C/2026/4772, 21 September 2026, Section I, p. 1 (official reference: C/2026/4772).