Google dominates Australia’s online advertising market to the point of harming publishers, advertisers and ultimately consumers, the country’s antitrust regulator says, calling for new rules to rein in the Big Tech giant.
Key points:
- The ACCC wants Google to make it clear to customers how it uses their personal data to sell ads
- The amount of personal data Google collects from its customers gives it a “data advantage” over its competitors
- The ACCC says competition in Australia’s online advertising market is suffering
A report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), published on Tuesday, said more than 90 per cent of clicks on advertisements traded through the Australian “ad tech” supply chain passed through at least one Google service in 2020.
It also found Google has used its position to preference its own services and shield them from competition.
For example, Google prevents rival ad tech services from accessing ads on YouTube, providing its own ad tech services with an important advantage.
A Google spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
“Google has used its vertically integrated position to operate its ad tech services in a way that has, over time, led to a less competitive ad tech industry,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said in a statement, released alongside the report.
“This conduct has helped Google to establish and entrench its dominant position in the ad tech supply chain.
“Google’s activities across the supply chain also mean that, in a single transaction, Google can act on behalf of both the advertiser [the buyer] and the publisher [the seller] and operate the ad exchange connecting these two parties.
“As the interests of these parties do not align, this creates conflicts of interest for Google which can harm both advertisers and publishers.
“We recommend rules be considered to manage conflicts of interest, prevent anti-competitive self-preferencing and ensure rival ad tech providers can compete on their merits.”
The regulator says Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc, benefited from vast amounts of Australians’ personal internet usage data from its search engine, mapping service, and YouTube video streaming service.
It said this gave Google a “data advantage” over its competitors and it must be more transparent about the way it uses this information to sell advertisements.
The regulator wants special powers to address the imbalance of advertiser access to consumer data, such as rules forcing them to separate data between business units or share data with competitors.
The “ad tech” report was part of the ACCC’s wider examination of online platforms which earlier this year prompted Google to threaten to withdraw core services from the country over laws forcing it to pay for media content that drives traffic to its website.
The report, Digital Advertising Services Inquiry, concludes that enforcement action under Australia’s existing competition laws is not sufficient to address the competition issues in the sector.
ABC/Reuters
