Court orders Google to surrender records to ad dominance investigation

• Canada's Competition Bureau is expanding its investigation into the advertising practices of tech giant Google after an order granted this week by the Federal Court requiring the tech giant to hand over records relevant to its dominance in the online ad market.

On Thursday, the Competition Bureau obtained a court order to determine if Google had taken part in what it described as “certain practices that harm competition in the online display advertising industry in Canada.”

The order compels Google to hand over documents and records relevant to the bureau's investigation.

In a press release, the bureau said its nearly four-year investigation into the California-based tech giant has now expanded to look into how Google may be leveraging its market power across different ad technology services to gain unfair advantages, as well as engaging in “predatory pricing” on those same platforms.

The bureau says it requires more information on whether Google's Canadian advertising practices are intentionally harmful to competition, and if they stunt revenue and innovation in Canada's advertising market.

“The Bureau is looking to determine if Google's practices raise concerns under the restrictive trade practices provisions of the Competition Act, including the abuse of dominance provision,” the press release read.

Google owns Canada's four largest online advertising platforms: DoubleClick, Google Ad Exchange, Display & Video 360, and Google Ads.

The bureau obtained its first court order against Google in October 2021, at the time saying it would “closely follow developments with respect to Google's ongoing conduct, including the results from investigations of our international counterparts.”

Google was last investigated by the bureau in 2016 for what the bureau alleged was anti-competitive practices, including search manipulation and preferential treatment of Google's proprietary services such as Google Maps and Google Flights.

That case was halted after investigators concluded there wasn't enough evidence to support the allegations.