{"id":634461,"date":"2024-09-06T13:41:35","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/google-faces-provisional-antitrust-charges-in-uk-for-self-preferencing-its-ad-exchange\/"},"modified":"2024-09-06T13:41:35","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:41:35","slug":"google-faces-provisional-antitrust-charges-in-uk-for-self-preferencing-its-ad-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/google-faces-provisional-antitrust-charges-in-uk-for-self-preferencing-its-ad-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"#Google faces provisional antitrust charges in UK for \u2018self-preferencing\u2019 its ad exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More antitrust woes for Google. The U.K\u2019.s competition watchdog said on Friday that it suspects the company of adtech antitrust abuses. The tech giant will now have a chance to respond to the provisional findings before the regulator reaches a final decision.<\/p>\n

Confirmed violations of U.K. competition law can lead to corrective orders and fines of up to 10% of annual worldwide group turnover. So the outcome of this case is likely to be closely watched.<\/p>\n

The U.K.\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating Google\u2019s role in the adtech stack over suspected abuses of dominance since May 2022. The new development is the sending of a formal statement of objections to Google setting out provisional findings that accuse the adtech giant of self-preferencing its own ad exchange at the expense of customers and rivals.<\/p>\n

The CMA said it believes Google\u2019s practices could be harming \u201cthousands\u201d of UK publishers and advertisers who rely on its adtech to bid for and sell advertising space. <\/p>\n

The adtech space is little understood by consumers but it\u2019s inextricably entwined with the mainstream web. As web users browse the internet, they are profiled using tracking technologies like cookies. Data about them is traded between different types of adtech platform to power high velocity, real-time trading of ad space in a bid to match ads with eyeballs. Google has a kingpin role in this lucrative programmatic ads business. But the CMA suspects it\u2019s skewed the deck in its favor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CMA is concerned that Google is actively using its dominance in this sector to preference its own services,\u201d it wrote in a press release<\/a>. \u201cGoogle disadvantages competitors and prevents them competing on a level playing field to provide publishers and advertisers with a better, more competitive service that supports growth in their business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Google dominates the adtech stack \u2014 playing a powerful intermedia<\/a>ry role in \u201cthree key parts\u201d of the chain, per the CMA, including offering ad buying tools for advertisers (Google Ads and DV360); a publisher ad server (DoubleClick For Publishers or DFP); and an ad exchange (AdX). <\/p>\n

The CMA noted AdX is where Google charges its highest fees in the adtech stack (\u201capp<\/a>roximately 20% of the bid amount\u201d). It\u2019s concerned Google has been able to give AdX an unfair advantage by applying self-preferencing tactics across different links of the chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CMA has provisionally found that, since at least 2015, Google has abused its dominant positions through the operation of both its buying tools and publisher ad server in order to strengthen AdX\u2019s market position and to protect AdX from competition from other exchanges,\u201d it wrote. \u201cMoreover, due to the highly integrated nature of Google\u2019s ad tech business, the CMA has provisionally found that Google\u2019s conduct has also prevented rival publisher ad servers from being able to compete effectively with DFP, harming competition in this market.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of the specific Google practices it\u2019s objecting to, the CMA said these are various and have evolved over time \u2014 but examples it cites include:<\/p>\n