Aussie Watchdog Flags Concerns Over Google Advertising Market Power
January 28 2021 - 2:42AM
Dow Jones News
By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY--Australia could give consumers greater control over how
platforms including Alphabet Inc.'s Google use their data amid
concerns over the tech giants' domination of local digital ad
markets.
Australia's competition watchdog is asking for feedback on
proposals including one that would allow users to instruct Google
or Facebook Inc. to share their data to news publishers or other
social networks.
Other proposals include stopping companies from taking data
gathered in the provision of one service and using it for the
supply of another service, or requiring platforms to give equal
access to all ad tech services.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission made the
proposals on Thursday following an inquiry in which it said the
domination of digital advertising by Google raised the prospect of
conflicts of interest.
"Due to Google's presence across the ad tech supply chain, its
strong position in the supply of certain services, and the opacity
of the supply chain, Google is likely to have the ability and
incentive to favor its own related business interests," the ACCC
said in an interim report.
A Google Australia and New Zealand spokesperson said the company
had engaged constructively with the ACCC, and believed the ad tech
market remained competitive.
"There are many companies, large and small, working together and
in competition with each other to power digital advertising across
the web, each with different specialties and technologies. Google
is just one of these many players," the spokesperson said.
ACCC Commissioner Rod Sims said Google often acted on behalf of
both publishers and advertisers, while also selling its own ad
inventory.
The report could further escalate the long-running battle
pitting Google and Facebook Inc. against the Australian government,
which is proposing a law requiring tech giants to pay publishers
for news. Google last week threatened to shut down its search
engine in Australia if the proposed law isn't changed.
The ACCC said Google takes between 50% and 70% of revenue and
between 60% and 100% of ads traded across the four areas of the
digital ad market it looked at. It said it was also looking at the
extent to which Facebook imposed competitive constraint on other ad
tech services.
The ACCC will complete its inquiry and provide a final report to
government by Aug. 31.
Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 28, 2021 02:27 ET (07:27 GMT)
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