🇨🇦 Canada is Side-Eyeing Google

Following the US v. Google antitrust trial, Google is headed to court again. Canada’s Competition Bureau opened an investigation in 2020 after reports that Google may have stifled competition in the digital ad market. A surprise to no one, the probe confirmed that Google is the largest provider for web advertising in Canada (plus the US).

According to the bureau, Google "has abused its dominant position through conduct intended to ensure that it would maintain and entrench its market power.”

Now, Canada’s Competition Tribunal is seeking for Google to sell off two of its ad products, plus a penalty aimed at enforcing Canada’s competition laws.

We have an idea of what’s coming next, and we’ll keep you in the loop!  

🇯🇵 Making a stop in Tokyo

Following an investigation into potential violations of the country’s antitrust laws, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) has issued a cease and desist order. The JFTC has found that Google was incentivizing Android manufacturers to install Google services — Google Search, Chrome, and Play. This is a solid example of unfair competition, despite Google services being widely used.

The order is asking Google to stop its monopolistic practices and restore fair market conditions. A third party has been hired by Google to report its compliance on the cease and desist order for the next 5 years to the JFTC.

🇦🇺 Small newsrooms, big fights

Google has faced a class action lawsuit from Australia media outlets.

The suit accused Google of abusing its dominance in the adtech sector, which has impacted news outlets. Google doesn’t only run the ad auctions — they own the entire system from the buy side to the sell side. They get paid at every step, and are taking big cuts before publishers see a cent.

Google gets to write the rules while their customers are left in the dark of transparency. Publishers don’t know how much advertisers are paying, or how much Google is getting paid. Smaller outlets are not only being left out of deals but are now getting automated ad scraps.

The details of the suit have not been shared, but Google has renewed its News Showcase agreement with many publishers, including one of the suit’s plaintiffs - QNews. We’ll see how this shapes up!

🇹🇷 Did Google violate another country’s competition laws?

Turkey is the latest country to scrutinize Google’s ad empire. Regulators have launched an investigation into Performance Max (PMAX), which was launched and has been problematic since 2021. The PMAX campaign type, which is an AI-powered buying method, disrupts the competitive landscape by combining data it gathers from Google’s different channels (Chrome, Android operating system, etc). 95%

The probe comes just months after Turkey’s competition authority imposed a $75 million USD fine on Google, citing abuses of market dominance in the ad tech space. 

🇨🇱 It’s getting spicy

Chile has joined in on the chaos. Copesa, a media conglomerate, filed a lawsuit against Google before the Court for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC). In the first such case against Google in Latin America, Copesa is claiming that Google has abused its dominant position in the market of both search engines and digital advertising. The issue here is that Google is diverting traffic from online news sites, and news outlets are taking a hit on the potential revenue.

This case is ongoing, and trust that we are watching with bated breath.