The Canadian Competition Authority announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Google for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices in online advertising. The Competition Authority claimed that Google’s dominance in the market undermines the competitiveness of other companies and demanded that Google sell both ad technology services and pay a fine.
The Canadian Competition Authority claimed that the connection Google established between advertising tools in order to maintain its dominance in the market was “illegal and leads to monopolization.” Stating that Google did not comply with the online competition law, the Competition Authority took the issue to court.
DEMANDED PAYMENT OF FINE The Competition Authority stated that Google’s dominance in the market weakens the competitiveness of other companies, prevents innovation, increases advertising costs and reduces publisher revenues, and demanded that the company sell both advertising technology services and pay a fine. In a written statement, Competition Authority official Matthew Boswell argued that Google pushes users to use its own advertising tools and said, “(Google) has engaged in behavior that excludes its competitors and distorts the competitive process and has abused its dominance in online advertising in Canada.”
STATEMENT FROM GOOGLE Google’s vice president of global advertising, Dan Taylor, stated in a statement that the Competition Authority “ignored the fact that those who want to receive and place ads have many options,” and that Google plans to defend itself against these claims. The US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google for monopolizing search and search advertising in 2020. In August, federal judge Amit Mehta in the US ruled that Google had an “illegal monopoly” on internet search and search advertising, making an important decision in the field of internet technologies.
