ADIF Files A Complaint With CCI Against Google’s Market Dominance In Online Advertising

The Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF) has filed a complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) over Google’s alleged anti-competitive practices in the Indian online advertising market. 

In a statement, the industry body, which counts Indian startups like Paytm, Matrimony, TrulyMadly, among others, as its members, said that in its complaint it has contended that Google employs practices that stifle competition and adversely affect businesses in online advertising.

It alleged that Google imposes unfair conditions on advertisers through its advertising policies. It also said that Google’s ad ranking system leaves advertisers in the dark about the services they are providing. 

“Google allows competitors to bid on trademarked keywords, leading to a bidding war that ultimately benefits Google at the expense of advertisers and trademark owners,” the ADIF said in the statement.

The foundation said that its complaint also highlights inconsistencies in Google’s ad policy enforcement and the lack of transparency in its ad review and redressal processes. These practices, it said, often result in unfair denial of access to Google’s online search advertising platform for many advertisers.

The complaint also includes Google’s “self-preferencing” by tying its products together, such as DoubleClick for Publishers with AdX, and Display & Video 360 with AdX. 

The ADIF’s qualms with Google aren’t restricted to the aforementioned points. It also highlighted issues with the way the tech giant is treating the data farmed from its users. 

It is pertinent to note that in a bid to curtail the mounting privacy concerns around its flagship browser Chrome, Google has accelerated the deployment of its ‘Privacy Sandbox’ by making it available to the general public. In 2019, when the company began working on the Sandbox, it said that it would address the privacy concerns. 

“ADIF is particularly concerned over Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, which aims to remove third-party cookies from websites accessed via the Google Chrome browser. This move could significantly hamper non-Google Demand Side Platforms’ ability to serve advertisers effectively,” the ADIF said in the statement. 

This is not the first time that the ADIF has spoken out against Google’s policies. Last year, it expressed concerns over Google’s adtech practices and called for antitrust probes and investigation into the tech giant. Back then, it said that Indian advertisers and publishers find themselves ‘ensnared in Google’s web of control’. 

This adds to the problems Google is facing in India. In 2022, the CCI ordered fresh investigation into the tech giant for allegedly abusing its dominance in news aggregation space, following a complaint filed by industry body Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA).

Besides, the CCI also slapped a cumulative fine of INR 1,337.6 Cr on Google in 2022 in two separate cases – for abuse of its dominant position in the Android devices market and via its Play Store policies.

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