Report: Israel’s Antitrust Authority Looking into Google Following Complaint

Google is facing scrutiny by Israel’s antitrust agency following a complaint from video advertising platform Artimedia, according to a report.

“For the first time ever, Google has come into the crosshairs of Israel’s Antitrust Authority, which has begun examining the implications of its dominance of the internet advertising market as a possible restraint of trade,” reported Haaretz on Monday. “The authority, which confirmed it has begun looking into the matter, has until now refrained from doing so because it never received an official complaint nor has it found any indication that the law was violated.”

“As a result, Google has never been declared a monopoly nor have any restraints been placed on its ad business,” they explained, adding, “Now, however, Artimedia, an Israeli platform for video advertising has filed a complaint.”

The complaint argues that Google’s advertising services “illustrate Google’s tremendous conglomerate power, which extends across the digital advertising continuum in all its forms.”

“[It] sheds light on Google’s varied and sophisticated ways of exploiting its status to push competition away,” attorney Uri Baram proclaimed.

Google has faced several antitrust investigations over the past few years, and in June, the European Union fined Google $2.72 following their own investigation.

In November, it was also reported that Missouri’s attorney general had launched an investigation into Google over “potential violations of the state’s consumer-protection and antitrust laws,” while social network Gab filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company in September.