The Canadian competition watchdog is taking legal action against the American giant Google after an investigation because it judges that the Mountain View multinational “abused its dominant position”.
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“The Competition Bureau conducted an in-depth investigation which revealed that Google abused its dominant position in the field of online advertising,” said Matthew Boswell, Commissioner of Competition, in a press release published Thursday afternoon.
The Bureau accuses Google of being “illegally linked to its various advertising technology tools in order to maintain its dominant position in the market”.
It is alleged that the company distorts “auction dynamics by giving its own tools preferential access to advertising inventory.”
It is also argued that Google is outright willing to lose money to harm its competitors.
For these reasons, the Competition Bureau submitted a request to the Competition Tribunal for an order requiring Google to divest two of its advertising tools as quickly as possible and for Google to pay a penalty, in addition to stop engaging in anti-competitive practices.
Provided by the Competition Bureau
“By engaging in this anticompetitive behavior, Google consolidated its dominant position, prevented rivals from competing on their merits, prevented innovation, insulated itself from competition, inflated the cost of advertising, and reduces publishers’ revenues. This behavior has had serious consequences for Canadian publishers, advertisers, rivals and consumers, and has had the effect of preventing and significantly lessening competition,” the Bureau maintains.
According to Philippe Gendreau, author of GAFAM, the five-headed monsterwhich has just been published by Écosociété, it was time for Ottawa to act.
“If we don’t rein in these companies now, they will gain even more power. Google, like the other GAFAM, embraces the concept of free enterprise while using all the means at their disposal to buy or eliminate competition,” he analyzed.
Photo Agence QMI, Thierry Laforce
Google defends itself
Joined by The JournalGoogle immediately defended itself by retorting that its technological advertising tools on the contrary help websites and applications “to finance their content, and allow companies of all sizes to reach new customers effectively”.
“Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive industry. The BCC’s complaint ignores the intense competition where buyers and sellers of advertising space are spoiled for choice and we are prepared to plead our case in court,” said Dan Taylor, vice-president, Google’s global advertisements in an emailed statement.
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