The UK Competition and Markets Authority regulatory body has finally offered a provisional decision on Google's digital display ads business. In a press release, the CMA stated that it believes Google has been "using anti-competitive practices" that have harmed both publishers and ad companies in the UK. The regulatory agency first announced it was investigating Google over these digital ad practices in May 2022, so this provisional finding has been announced over two years later.
The press release says:
The CMA is concerned that Google is actively using its dominance in this sector to preference its own services. Google disadvantages competitors and prevents them competing on a level playing field to provide publishers and advertisers with a better, more competitive service that supports growth in their business.
The CMA's announcements offer details about what it believes Google is doing in the digital ad space to cut out competition in the country. That includes using its ad exchange, known as AdX, to give advertisers in the UK "exclusive or preferential access" while at the same time also "manipulating advertiser bids so that they have a higher value" when they are submitted into auctions for AdX compared to when they would be forwarded to ad auctions run by Google's competitors.
Today's announcement also notes that the US Department of Justice and the EU's European Commission have been investigating Google's influence on the digital ad industry.
The CMA sent over its list of objections to Google today and will now wait until the company responds to its findings before the agency reveals its final decision.
In a statement sent to TechCrunch, Dan Taylor, Google's vice president of Global Ads, wrote, "The core of this case rests on flawed interpretations of the ad tech sector. We disagree with the CMAs' view, and we will respond accordingly."
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