Google ‘abused market power’
JOSH Frydenberg will consider the competition watchdog’s calls for new powers to rein in Google’s dominance of the ad tech industry, following a years-long investigation that found that the tech giant has abused its market position and harmed rivals.
The 200-page ACCC report, released on Tuesday, has found that more than 90 per cent of ad impressions through the ad tech supply chain travel through a Google product. Google’s industry power has led to systemic competition concerns, ACCC chair Rod Sims said, including “conduct that harms rivals”.
The Treasurer on Tuesday said regulations had to keep pace with changes.
“Digital platforms have fundamentally changed the way that media content is produced, distributed and consumed,” he said. “It is therefore important that our regulatory frameworks keep pace with the changes being driven by digital platforms.”
Opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland said she supported the ACCC’S efforts to promote competition in the sector.
Mr Sims said Google prevented rival adtech services from accessing ads on YouTube, for example, preferencing its own services instead.
“Google has used its vertically integrated position to operate its adtech services in a way that has, over time, led to a less competitive ad tech industry. This conduct has helped Google to establish and entrench its dominant position in the adtech supply chain,” Mr Sims said.
He said competition laws
needed strengthening to address the concerns. New proposed rules and powers will be considered as part of a broader ACCC report due in September 2022.
The current report also recommends that Google should be required to provide publishers with information about the operation and outcomes of its publisher ad server auctions.
“If Google fails to provide sufficient information, or the industry’s voluntary standards do not achieve transparency, then new requirements should be able to be put in place to address this,” Mr Sims said.
“These markets are dynamic, so if you could just loosen the stranglehold of this, then new players would come in and compete on a much more level playing field.”
Ad tech services are used in the buying and selling of digital display advertising through open display channels. They involve the automated use of complex algorithms and systems to trade digital ads on websites and apps in a matter of milliseconds.
Mr Sims said he’ll be working closely with counterparts particularly in Europe and the UK on new rules that could potentially prevent Google from favouring its own services.
A Google spokesman said that Google’s ad tech services are “delivering benefits for businesses and consumers”.