Google Under Investigation by Canada’s Competition Bureau for Market Domination

Canada’s Competition Bureau has launched a significant lawsuit against Google, alleging that the tech giant has engaged in anti-competitive conduct within the country’s online advertising technology (adtech) ecosystem. In its detailed complaint, the Bureau accuses Google of using its market power to unlawfully tie together various adtech tools, thereby maintaining dominance and distorting auction dynamics to the detriment of advertisers, publishers, and consumers. The lawsuit targets Google’s ownership of four critical adtech services in Canada: DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), AdX, Display & Video 360, and Google Ads.

The Bureau’s investigation concluded that Google’s practices were part of a deliberate strategy to achieve near-total control over the “ad tech stack”—a term used to describe the interconnected systems that facilitate the buying and selling of online advertising. “The Bureau’s position is that Google’s near-total control of the ad tech stack is by design,” the statement reads. Through a series of interdependent actions, Google is accused of unlawfully integrating its adtech products, thereby impeding the ability of competitors to operate freely and limiting the development of innovative technologies that could challenge its market power.

Among the specific accusations, the Bureau alleges that Google gave its own tools preferential access to valuable advertising inventory, manipulated auction dynamics by taking negative margins in certain situations to undermine rivals, and imposed restrictive conditions on publishers using its platforms, preventing them from transacting with competing adtech services. This behavior, according to the Bureau, entrenched Google’s dominance, suppressed competition, inflated advertising costs for businesses, and reduced the revenue potential for publishers.

The scope of Google’s influence in the Canadian adtech market is staggering. The Bureau estimates that Google controls approximately 90 percent of the market for publisher ad servers, 70 percent for advertiser networks, 60 percent for demand-side platforms (DSPs), and 50 percent for ad exchanges. These figures underscore the company’s pervasive influence across the online advertising landscape.

In response to these findings, the Bureau is seeking a court order from the Competition Tribunal to halt Google’s allegedly anti-competitive practices. Additionally, the Bureau is demanding that Google divest two of its key adtech assets—DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) and AdX. The lawsuit also calls for the imposition of a substantial administrative monetary penalty, calculated as either three times the value of the benefit Google gained from its anti-competitive conduct or three percent of its global gross revenues.

Matthew Boswell, Canada’s Competition Bureau Commissioner, emphasized the gravity of the situation in a public statement: “Google’s conduct has prevented rivals from being able to compete on the merits of what they have to offer, to the detriment of Canadian advertisers, publishers, and consumers. We are taking our case to the Competition Tribunal to stop this conduct and its harmful effects in Canada.” Boswell’s remarks underscore the Bureau’s commitment to ensuring a fair and competitive digital advertising environment.

As per the procedural rules of the Competition Tribunal, Google has approximately 45 days to respond to the Bureau’s allegations. Following that, the Bureau will have 14 days to issue a formal reply. This legal battle is expected to have far-reaching implications, not only for Google’s operations in Canada but also for the broader global debate over the dominance of Big Tech in digital markets. If successful, the lawsuit could serve as a landmark case, setting a precedent for how countries regulate and enforce competition laws in the rapidly evolving digital advertising industry.

This lawsuit also comes at a time when global scrutiny of Google’s business practices is intensifying. Similar investigations and legal challenges have been launched in other jurisdictions, including the European Union and the United States, where regulators have accused Google of engaging in anti-competitive behavior in various sectors, including search and adtech. The outcome of this case could influence future regulatory approaches and potentially reshape the competitive landscape of the online advertising industry in Canada and beyond.