Australian Antitrust Watch Wants To Reduce Google's Dominance In Targeted Ad Market

Google dominates the targeted advertising market because it has technology that others don't. (photo: unsplash)

JAKARTA - Australia's antitrust watchdog is calling for common powers to curb Google's use of internet data to sell targeted advertising. They have also joined regulators in other countries in saying that Google has dominated the market to the detriment of publishers, advertisers, and consumers.

The comments appear, in a report published on Tuesday. The report has, put Australia alongside the European Union and the UK, where regulators want to stop Alphabet Inc's unit from beating rival advertisers by using data it collects from users' online searches - including on maps and YouTube - to place marketing materials.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Justice is preparing an antitrust lawsuit accusing Google of using its market power to cripple advertising competitors.

"Europe and the UK are consulting on such legislation at the moment and we will try to align with them over the next year," Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims said in an interview with Reuters. "I don't think we're far behind."

It's been a year since Google said it was ready to pull core services from Australia over a law also recommended by the ACCC, which forces them to pay media companies for content that drives traffic to search engines. Google has finally signed deals with most of the major outlets.

Google said, following the report, that its advertising arm supports more than 15.000 Australian jobs and contributes $2.45 billion to the Australian economy every year.

"As one of the many advertising technology providers in Australia, we will continue to work closely with industry and regulators to support a healthy advertising ecosystem," a Google spokesperson said.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who commissioned the report, said the government would consider its findings and recommendations.

'BETTER INTERNET'

While the US justice department is likely to use existing competition laws against Google. The ACCC said in its 200-page report that Google's dominance of Australian online advertising is so entrenched that existing laws are insufficient to control any anti-competitive behavior.

More than 90% of clicks on Australian internet ads were at least in part the result of one of Google's offerings in 2020, regulators said.

The ACCC said the US company is benefiting from the vast amount of internet user data from a search engine, mapping, and video streaming service YouTube, and should be made to clarify publicly how they use that information to sell and display ads.

It also wants specific powers to address imbalances in advertisers' access to consumer data, such as introducing rules that would stop companies from using data collected by one part of their business to sell targeted advertising through another without rival companies making the same profit.

Sims hopes the global push to increase regulation of Google's advertising business will increase opportunities for cooperation between the US internet giant and respective country's regulators.

"I just think they can see what's going on and it's in their interest that these rules are harmonized (between countries) and it's in their interest that they are really well thought through," he said in the interview.

"We don't want to stifle innovation, we don't want any negative effects, we just want to encourage competition, reduce barriers to entry, so consumers get better internet, better transparency about what's going on, and companies 'don't pay too much,'" added Sims.