Canada’s Competition Authority on Thursday accused one of the biggest tech companies in the world, Google, of abusing its tools to sell and buy online advertising to create a monopoly in the market. The authority has filed a formal complaint and is trying to force Google to sell two of its major advertising services.
This case resembles the ongoing US antitrust lawsuit against the Silicon Valley giant. Apart from these two cases, Google has also faced four other lawsuits in the States since 2020. In all cases, officials are making efforts to reign in the power that big tech companies like Apple, Google and Amazon hold over the information and e-commerce, around the world.
Canada’s Bureau of Competition, a law enforcement agency, alleged that Google is using its position as the biggest software provider to sell and buy ads. It also said that the company’s conduct ensured that “Google would maintain and entrench its market power.” It also said, “Locks market participants into using its own ad tech tools, prevents rivals from being able to compete on the merits of their offering.”
This case is crucial because Google owns four of Canada’s largest online ad tech services and controls around 40 to 90 per cent of the market. According to the Bureau, Google is involved in about 200 billion ad sales annually in the country. Now, the bureau seeks to reduce this monopoly and fine Google 3% of their global revenue from ad services. It is worth noting that Google made around $31 billion in ad revenues worldwide, meaning that the bureau is seeking a fine in the neighbourhood of $1 billion.
