Sydney, Sep 28 (BUS) – Australia’s antitrust watchdog has called for authorities to limit Google’s use of internet data to sell targeted ads, joining other regulators in saying the company is dominating the market to the point of harming publishers, advertisers and consumers.
The comments, in a report published on Tuesday, put Australia alongside Europe and Britain as regulators want to prevent the Alphabet Inc unit from defeating rival advertisers by using data it collects from people’s online searches – including maps and YouTube – to place marketing materials.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is preparing an antitrust lawsuit accusing Google of using its market power to block ad competitors, according to media reports.
“The Europeans and the UK are consulting on such laws at the moment and we will try to get them to work with them over the next year,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said in an interview with Reuters.
“I don’t think we’re far behind.”
Google has already said this year that it is preparing to pull essential services from Australia due to a law – also recommended by the ACCC – that forces it to pay media companies for content that drives traffic to its search engine. She eventually signed deals with most major outlets.
A Google spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the ad’s action. In a blog post published shortly before the ACCC report, Google said its advertising technology has supported more than 15,000 Australian jobs and contributed $2.45 billion a year to the Australian economy annually.
Treasury Secretary Josh Frydenberg, who ordered the report, said the government would study its findings and recommendations.
While the US Department of Justice is likely to use existing competition law against Google, the ACCC said in its 200-page report that Google’s dominance of Australian online advertising has been so entrenched that existing laws are insufficient to curb any anti-competitive behavior.
The regulator said that more than 90% of clicks on ads that passed through the Australian “ad technology” supply chain passed through at least one Google-owned service in 2020.
The ACCC said the US company has taken advantage of massive amounts of Internet user data from its search engine, mapping and video streaming services on YouTube, and should make it public how it used this information to sell and serve ads.
It also wants special powers to address the disruption in advertisers’ access to consumer data, such as introducing a rule that prevents a company from using data collected by part of its business to sell targeted ads across another part without a competitor getting the same. benefit.
Sims said he expects the global push to increase regulation of Google’s advertising business will increase opportunities for collaboration between the US Internet giant and the regulator.
“I just think they can see what’s going on, and it’s in their interest to keep these rules (between countries) in line, and it’s in their interest to think through them,” he said in the interview.
“We don’t want to stifle innovation, we don’t want to have any negative impacts, we just want to boost competition, lower barriers to entry, so consumers have better internet, better transparency about what’s happening, and companies aren’t paying too much.”
HF