Canadian competition watchdog sues Google over ad business

Canada’s Competition Bureau is taking legal action against Google over alleged anti-competitive practices in its online advertising business.

During an investigation, the watchdog says it found that Google had abused its dominant position to ensure that it could “maintain and entrench its market power.”

The Bureau said that Google locks companies into using its own ad tech tools and prevents rivals from being able to compete.

According to the regulator, its investigation also found that Google had unlawfully tied its ad tech tools together to achieve market dominance and dictated the terms on which its customers could transact with rival ad tech tools.

The Competition Bureau said that by implementing this anti-competitive conduct, Google has prevented rivals from competing, inhibited innovation, inflated advertising costs.

As a result of the investigation, the Competition Bureau has asked Canada’s Competition Tribunal to require Google to sell two of its ad tech tools.

Additionally, the watchdog asked that Google pays a penalty to promote compliance with the competition act.

“The Competition Bureau conducted an extensive investigation that found that Google has abused its dominant position in online advertising in Canada by engaging in conduct that locks market participants into using its own ad tech tools, excluding competitors, and distorting the competitive process,” said Matthew Boswell, commissioner of competition. “Google’s conduct has prevented rivals from being able to compete on the merits of what they have to offer, to the detriment of Canadian advertisers, publishers and consumers.

“We are taking our case to the Tribunal to stop this conduct and its harmful effects in Canada.”

National Technology News has reached out to Google for comment.

The company is also currently facing an anti-trust case in the United States, where the Department of Justice alleges that Google sought to monopolise markets for publisher ad servers and advertiser ad networks, while also attempting to dominate the market for ad exchanges.

In June, the European Commission informed Google of its preliminary view that the company breached EU antitrust rules by distorting competition in the advertising technology industry.
In recent months, EU competition regulators have been preparing to issue a decision regarding Google’s alleged anti-competitive practices.

Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly asked a federal judge to compel Google to sell its Chrome web browser as part of a historic crackdown on the tech giant’s search monopoly.

The request followed an August ruling that found Google had illegally monopolised the search market.

Chrome, which controls about 61 per cent of the browser market in the US, represents a crucial access point through which many users access Google’s search engine.