Canada's antitrust regulator sues Google (GOOGL.US): Alleges anti-competitive behavior in online advertising business

Canada's antitrust regulator said on Thursday it was suing Google's (GOOGL.US) online advertising business for anticompetitive practices and seeking that the company sell two of its advertising technology tools and pay a fine.

The Canadian Competition Bureau said it had taken the action because its investigation into Google found the company had "illegally" bundled its advertising technology tools together to maintain its market dominance. The bureau has applied to the Competition Tribunal for an order that Google sell its publisher ad server DoubleClick for Publishers and its ad exchange AdX.

Google is estimated to have 90 per cent of the market for publisher ad servers, 70 per cent for ad networks, 60 per cent for demand-side platforms and 50 per cent for ad exchanges. The bureau said this dominance had prevented competitors from competing, stifled innovation, driven up advertising costs and reduced revenues for publishers. Matthew Boswell, the bureau's commissioner, said in a statement: "Google has abused its dominance in the online advertising market in Canada, locking in market participants to its advertising technology tools, excluding competitors and distorting the competitive process."

Google said the allegations "ignore the intense competition and the many choices available to advertisers and buyers", adding that it looked forward to presenting its case in court. Dan Taylor, vice-president of global advertising at Google, said: "Our advertising technology tools help websites and apps fund their content and enable businesses of all sizes to reach new customers effectively."

It is worth noting that last week, the US Department of Justice formally asked Google to spin off Chrome. Court documents show the US department of justice is seeking a judge to order Google to spin off Chrome, and Google should be barred from re-entering the browser market for five years. The US department of justice is also seeking a judge to order Google to spin off Android, if other remedies cannot restore competition. The US department of justice is also seeking a judge to order Google to give its search results and information to competitors for the next 10 years.

Moreover, the US department of justice is seeking to stop Google from paying Apple billions of dollars to ensure it is the default search engine on Apple devices; seeking to prohibit Google from acquiring or investing in any search competitors, query-based artificial intelligence products or advertising technology. Google said the US department of justice's requests were far beyond the legal scope and would harm consumers, developers and the US's technology leadership.