Google came under fire on Friday from British regulators, who said the company was using its dominance in digital advertising to stifle competition in Britain, intensifying the pressure the tech giant is facing on both sides of the Atlantic over its “ad tech” business practices.
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said the U.S. company was prioritizing its own services to the detriment of online publishers and advertisers in Britain’s 1.8 billion pound ($2.4 billion) digital advertising market. The authority made the accusations after an investigation, whose findings could lead to billions of dollars in fines and orders to change behavior.
Google is a major player across the digital advertising ecosystem, providing the servers that publishers use to manage ad space on their websites and apps, the tools that advertisers and media agencies use to buy display ads, and the exchanges where both parties come together to buy and sell ads in real time in auctions.
“Our preliminary findings indicate that Google is using its market power to stifle competition when it comes to the ads people see on websites,” Juliette Ensar, the watchdog’s interim executive director, said in a press release.
The watchdog’s complaint, known as a Statement of Objections, comes two years after the investigation began. Google’s digital advertising business is also the focus of a European Union antitrust investigation and a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit that is set to go on trial this month.
The CMA said Google’s “anti-competitive” behaviour was continuing, but the company disputed the allegations on Friday.
“Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertising partner partners in this competitive industry,” the company said in a statement. “At the heart of this lawsuit is a misinterpretation of the ad tech industry. We disagree with the CMA’s position and will respond accordingly.”
The UK regulator alleged that Google has used its dominance to bolster the market position of its AdX advertising exchange and protect it from competitors since 2015. AdX is where Google charges the highest fees on its ad tech system, receiving around 20% of bids, according to the CMA.
The regulators’ accusations also include that Google manipulated advertiser bids to ensure that its ad exchanges outbid rivals in auctions, and that the exchanges could bid first in auctions run by Google’s publisher ad servers, potentially forcing out rivals, the regulators said.
Google now has an opportunity to respond to the accusations. The CMA said it was considering what is needed to ensure Google stops its anti-competitive behaviour. The CMA has the power to impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s annual global turnover or make binding orders to stop it from breaking competition law.