Google has been charged with anti-competitive behavior in the internet advertising technology services market by Canada’s Competition Bureau, which has started legal action against the company.
According to the bureau’s inquiry available to BrandSpur digital news platform, Google, Canada’s biggest ad tech company, has abused its position of power to further solidify and preserve its hold on the market. Usually, automated auctions employing advanced ad tech solutions are used to buy and sell ads. Google restricts competition and interferes with fair market processes by requiring market participants to utilize its ad tech products. Because it considers these activities to be “harmful” to Canadians and the competitive environment, the bureau has applied to the Competition Tribunal to rectify them.
A number of remedies are included in the bureau’s filing, including requiring Google to sell off two of its ad tech tools. It also entails banning Google from carrying on with its claimed anti-competitive actions and levying a monetary fine to enforce adherence to the Competition Act.
According to Reuters, the Competition Bureau opened an inquiry in 2020 to find out if Google was participating in anti-competitive behavior in the online advertising sector. In 2024, the inquiry was broadened to include Google’s advertising technology services.
The bureau’s conclusions state that Google has illegally connected its various ad tech tools and manipulated auction dynamics by using its position. Setting terms that disadvantage its rivals, taking negative margins to undercut them, and granting its tools privileged access to ad inventory are some examples of these practices.
According to the agency, Google’s actions have also reduced publishers’ revenue streams, impeded innovation, increased advertising costs, and hampered competition. Google responded to the allegation by stating that the Canada Competition Bureau: “Ignores the intense competition where ad buyers and sellers have plenty of choice and we look forward to making our case in court.”
According to Dan Taylor, the Vice-President of Global Ads: “Our advertising technology tools help websites and apps fund their content, and enable businesses of all sizes to effectively reach new customers.”
