According to investigatory documents by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Google was accused of anti-competitive conduct in some aspects of the online advertising markets. According to the CMA, Google is using an unrestricted access screening ad method that is disadvantageous to thousands of publishers and advertisers in the UK.
The regulator outlined concerns regarding Google’s control in three critical areas: advertiser buying tools, publisher ad servers, and ad exchanges. In a report, the CMA says Google is using its market muscle to advantage its offerings, a practice that puts rivals at a disadvantage.
Specifically, additional attention was paid to one of Google’s ad exchanges, AdX. The CMA claimed that Google offers preferential treatment to advertisers who use its own Advertising platform, Google Ads, by making the bids the latter submits in AdX’s auction house look higher than they actually are.
This investigation comes after a 2019 study which said that the £1. £22 billion per year, and consumers in the UK are reached by open-display ads online, including websites and applications.
In response to this, Google offered an assurance that its business would provide value for its partners, publishers, and advertisers in this competitive industry. Interpreting the company’s positions regarding the CMA’s recently released ad tech study, the article noted that it criticized the “CMA’s interpretations and stated that it would respond accordingly to these findings.”
These findings happened when Google faced investigations from the US Department of Justice and the European Commission. In 2020, Google experienced a large US antitrust failure concerning its central search segment, and the treatment that might entail includes the organization’s right to sell a portion of its operations. Also, a case with Epic Games against Google, due to the Play Store Android restricting the competitors by charging much more fees.
