A second probe into Google’s Advertising practices was launched by British Competition Regulators on Thursday, indicating that the tech giant may be favoring its own services by distorting competition.
The competition and market authority (CMA) recent probe follows up on the investigation into Facebook Meta and Google’s owner “Jedi Blue” agreement.
The CMA on Thursday stated that it was examining the three critical parts of the Ad tech stack chain and services that mediate ad tech since Google owns the majority provider in each of the components.
CMA Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli, in a statement, said, “We’re worried that Google may be using its position in ad tech to favor its own services to the detriment of its rivals, of its customers, and ultimately of consumers.”
A new competition regime
Governments from all over the globe are helping to strengthen regulation of US tech giants that have grown exceedingly popular after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Multiple investigations worldwide are being conducted into the tech giant’s market position; this includes the US and the European Union.
Britain was the first to impose a new competition regime last year. The new regime prevents Google and Facebook from intervening with smaller firms. It was said that the tech giants were using their dominance to push aside smaller firms and were putting customers at a disadvantage.
Britain’s move helped create a dedicated digital markets unit within the CMA. This unit could be given powers to block, suspend, and reverse the decisions made by technology firms.
The unit can also impose financial penalties on firms that are non-compliant with the unit’s terms.
Companies are told to be more transparent about customer data and adopt new advertising practices with changing expectations revolving around how the data was collected.
After this news, a Google Spokesperson conversed with Reuters and told them that the company would continue to work with the CMA to answer all of its questions and will later share the details on how the system works.
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