The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching an investigation into potential anticompetitive behaviour by Google within the ad-tech space – the second probe launched against the search giant in less than three months.

Officially opened yesterday (25 May), the CMA investigation will determine whether Google used its dominant position in online ads to breach existing competition laws and negatively impact publishers and consumers.

Specifically, the investigation concerns Google’s conduct across parts of the ad-tech ‘stack’, a group of different services in the ad-tech supply chain that constitutes automatic buying, selling and serving of online display ads between advertisers and publishers.

This includes demand-side platforms that allow advertisers and media agencies to buy publishers’ advertising inventory, ad exchanges that provide tech to automate the sale of publishers’ inventory, and ad servers that manage the inventory and decide which ad to show.

CMA chief Andrea Coscelli said that he is worried Google may be using its position in ad tech “to favour its own services” to the detriment of rivals, customers and consumers, which would be “bad for the millions of people who enjoy access to a wealth of free information online every day”.

“Weakening competition in this area could reduce the ad revenues of publishers, who may be forced to compromise the quality of their content to cut costs or put their content behind paywalls.”

He also said that Google’s behaviour may be raising costs for advertisers which are passed on through higher prices for advertised goods and services.

‘Jedi Blue’

This investigation comes just months after the EU and the CMA launched investigations in March into an ad-tech agreement between Google and Meta called ‘Jedi Blue’, which concerned the participation of Meta’s Audience Network in Google’s Open Bidding programme.

“We’re concerned that Google may have teamed up with Meta to put obstacles in the way of competitors who provide important online display advertising services to publishers,” Coscelli said at the time.

The latest investigation follows on from the CMA’s market study on online platforms and advertising, which examined Google’s ad-tech and bidding services as well as antitrust complaints.

“It’s vital that we continue to scrutinise the behaviour of the tech firms which loom large over our lives and ensure the best outcomes for people and businesses throughout the UK,” Coscelli added.

This initial investigation will include information gathering, analysis and review of information gathered, and is expected to last until February 2023.

10 things you need to know direct to your inbox every weekday. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of essential sci-tech news.

The post Google is being investigated for antitrust by the UK again appeared first on Silicon Republic.