Canada’s antitrust watchdog files lawsuit against Google over its ad business
Canada’s antitrust regulator said Thursday it is suing Google, accusing it of anti-competitive behavior in its online advertising business and wants the company to sell two ad technology services and pay a fine.
The Competition Bureau said such action was necessary after an investigation into Google found that the company “unlawfully” bundled its ad tech tools to maintain its market dominance.
The matter is now before the Competition Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body that hears cases brought by the Competition Commissioner regarding non-compliance with the Competition Act.
The bureau is asking the court to order Google to sell its publisher ad server, DoubleClick for Publishers, and its ad exchange platform AdX. It is estimated that Google has 90% market share in publisher ad servers, 70% market share in advertiser networks, 60% market share in demand-side platforms, and 50% market share in ad exchanges share.
The bureau said this dominance hinders competition from rivals, stifles innovation, increases advertising costs and reduces publisher revenue.
Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell said in a statement: “Google has abused its dominant position in Canada’s online advertising space by locking market players into using its own ad tech tools to the exclusion of competitors. , distorting the competitive process.”
However, Google insists the online advertising market is a highly competitive one.
Dan Taylor, Google’s vice president of global advertising, said in a statement that the bureau’s complaint “ignores the fierce competition where ad buyers and sellers have many choices.”
The statement added that Google intends to defend itself against the accusation.
U.S. regulators need a federal judge Break up Google To prevent companies From continue to squash game via its dominant search engine after a court found it had abused its monopoly position over the past decade.
The breakup proposal was laid out in a 23-page Justice Department filing this month, calling for sweeping punitive measures that would include selling off Google’s industry-leading Chrome web browser and imposing restrictions to prevent Android from biasing its searches. engine.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta august rule “Google is a monopoly and it has been defending its monopoly.” He outlined a timetable for trials of proposed remedies next spring, with plans to issue a decision by August 2025.
Mehta also found that Google paid Apple and other partners approximately $26 billion in 2021 to ensure that its search engine became the default search engine for Internet browsers.
His ruling stems from DOJ Antitrust Litigation The first lawsuit against Google was filed in October 2020 during the Trump administration.
Google has said it plans to appeal Mehta’s ruling, but the tech giant will have to wait until he finalizes a remedy before taking action. The appeals process could take up to five years, predicted Cornell University law professor George Hay, who served as chief economist for the Justice Department’s antitrust division for much of the 1970s. .
In January 2023, the Department of Justice and several states File a separate lawsuit Objection to Google’s claim that it has an illegal monopoly on online advertising.
