UK Competition Watchdog Launches Second Probe into Google Ads Business

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched a new probe into Google’s advertising business. According to the competition watchdog, it is investigating  “whether Google limited the interoperability of its ad exchange with third-party publisher ad servers and/or contractually tied these services together, making it more difficult for rival ad servers to compete.”

The Verge reports that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a new investigation into Google’s advertising business over worries that the firm is acting as a monopoly and freezing out competitors. This is the second probe by the CMA into Google after it was announced in March that a joint investigation with the EU had been launched over alleged collusion between Google and Facebook in the advertising business.

The latest probe will investigate the “ad tech stack” that Google uses, which is comprised of tools that make up the online ad market. The CMA stated that Google has “strong positions at various levels of the ad tech stack,” and is investigating three key elements in which Google is the largest competitor. The probe will cover the market used by companies to advertise their ad space, online ad exchanges, and ad servers that store advertisements and choose which ones to display.

The CMA is investigating whether Google has sued its dominance in these separate businesses to steer customers toward its own services, making it harder for other companies to compete. Some of the practices that the CMA is investigating include “whether Google limited the interoperability of its ad exchange with third-party publisher ad servers and/or contractually tied these services together, making it more difficult for rival ad servers to compete.”

The CMA chief Andrea Coscelli said in a press statement:

Weakening competition in this area could reduce the ad revenues of publishers, who may be forced to compromise the quality of their content to cut costs or put their content behind paywalls. It may also be raising costs for advertisers which are passed on through higher prices for advertised goods and services.

Read more at the Verge here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com