UK CMA Finds Google Has Abused Its Advertising Dominance

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it has provisionally found that Google has broken competition law by favoring its own tech services in advertising.

“We’ve provisionally found that Google is using its market power to hinder competition when it comes to the ads people see on websites,” CMA interim executive director of enforcement Juliette Enser said. “It’s important that publishers and advertisers – who keep their digital content free or cheaper by using online advertising to generate revenue – can benefit from effective competition and get a fair deal when buying or selling digital advertising space.”

As the CMA notes, regulators in the EU and US are also investigating similar concerns with Google, thanks to its dominance of the digital advertising market. And the EU has publicly stated that Google may have to sell off at least part of its advertising business to address its concerns.

This may seem like an odd concern to the typical consumer. But while the firm is considered a tech giant, the reality is that almost 75 percent of its revenues come from advertising. And Google has already been found to control an illegal monopoly in Internet Search in the United States, a business that is tied directly to its advertising efforts. This could be unraveled quickly by regulators.

“Our advertising technology tools help websites and apps fund their content, and enable businesses of all sizes to effectively reach new customers,” Google vice president Dan Taylor said in a prepared statement. “Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive sector.”

The CMA disagrees. It alleges that Google has abused its dominant market position since 2015 by favoring its own advertising exchange over those of competitors. The agency has reached out to Google to see what it can do to address the concerns and will proceed from there.

You can learn more about this investigation on the UK CMA website.