Canada's Competition Bureau is suing Google for alleged anti-competitive behavior in its online advertising.
In a statement, the country's antitrust watchdog said Google illegally linked two advertising tools to maintain market supremacy and used that dominant position to distort advertising auctions by favoring its own tools.
The agency said it had filed an application with the Competition Tribunal, an independent court-like body, that would force Google to sell two of its advertising technology tools.
In a statement, Google said the complaint from Canada “ignores the intense competition where advertising buyers and sellers have many choices and we look forward to making our case in court.”
“Our advertising technology tools help websites and apps fund their content and enable businesses of all sizes to effectively reach new customers,” said Dan Taylor, vice president of global advertising.
This case centers on online web advertisements, which are advertisements shown to users when they visit other websites.
Digital advertising inventory – the space that website publishers make available for sale – is often bought and sold through automated auctions using digital platforms.
These platforms are called ad tech tools, while the set of tools used throughout the buying process is known as the ad tech stack.
According to the Competition Bureau, an investigation found that Google had “abused its dominant position” as the largest ad tech stack in Canada.
“Through a series of calculated decisions, made over the course of several years, Google has excluded its competitors and entrenched itself in the center of online advertising,” the Competition Bureau said in its notice announcing Thursday's lawsuit .
“Google's near-total control over ad technology (software) is a function of premeditated design and behavior, rather than superior competitive performance or chance.”
The agency said it was asking the Competition Tribunal to force Google to sell two of its ad tech tools and pay a fine of up to 3% of the company's global revenues “to promote compliance” with the laws Canadian competition regulations.
Google has 45 days to file its response with the court.
The case comes a week after the US Department of Justice and a group of states asked Google to sell Chrome, the world's most popular web browser – one of several actions aimed at preventing the giant from technology to maintain its monopoly in online search.
