Canada’s Competition Bureau has filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging anti-competitive behavior in online advertising. The bureau is seeking an order for Google to sell two of its advertisement tech tools and is also requesting a penalty to ensure compliance with competition laws. Google has responded by stating that the complaint ignores the intense competition in the industry. The company’s vice president of Global Ads, Dan Taylor, emphasized that their advertising technology tools help websites and apps fund their content and allow businesses to reach new customers effectively.
The investigation found that Google holds a dominant position in the advertisement tech stack for web advertising in Canada and has engaged in conduct to maintain and entrench its market power. This follows similar antitrust actions by the US Justice Department against Google for monopolizing markets in the advertising industry. Google has defended itself by arguing that the online advertising market is competitive and that the US government’s case is based on a narrow slice of the market. The closing arguments in the US case were recently made.
In response to similar allegations, Google offered to sell its ad exchange to end an EU antitrust investigation, but the proposal was rejected by European publishers as insufficient. The Competition Bureau’s lawsuit adds to the scrutiny Google is facing globally over its practices in the online advertising industry. The company will have the opportunity to make its case in court as the legal proceedings progress.
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