FILE - The Google logo at their offices in Granary Square, in London, on Nov. 1, 2018. – Google was slammed Friday by U.K. regulators who say it's taking advantage of its dominance in digital advertising to thwart competition in Britain,Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said that the U.S. company gives preference to its own services to the detriment of online publishers and advertisers in Britain's 1.8 billion pound digital ad market.
The watchdog’s charges, known as a statement of objections, come two years after it opened its investigation. The European Union's antitrust authorities have also been Google's ad bidding services while and it has also been the focus of a “Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive sector,” the company said in a prepared statement."The core of this case rests on flawed interpretations of the ad tech sector. We disagree with the CMA's view and we will respond accordingly.”
The regulator's accusations include charges that Google manipulates advertiser bids so they have higher value when they go into AdX auctions then rival exchanges. AdX also gets to bid first in auctions run by Google's publisher ad server, potentially shutting out rivals from the chance to bid, the watchdog said.