Google has been at the hub of several investigations, especially in its advertising business. Many regulators believe that the company is not competing fairly in the advertising market. Yesterday, the Turkish Competition Authority issued a statement that after ruling that Google had abused its market dominance, the agency had imposed a fine of 196.7 million lire (approximately$26 million) on Google.
The Turkish Competition Authority said in this statement that Google has implemented unfair competition in the advertising market, thereby violating fair competition regulations. The California-based American technology giant is “abusing its market dominance.”
In January last year, the authority announced that it had launched an antitrust investigation against Google to assess whether Google’s search algorithm and precision advertising service algorithm violated Turkey’s fair competition law. In February of this year, the Turkish Competition Authority imposed a 98 million lire fine on Google because the company abused its dominant market position and implemented an “aggressive competitive strategy”. Presently, Google is facing investigation in India, the U.S, and the European Union
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The E.U. also wants to reduce Google’s monopoly
Google is now fighting the same battle on multiple fronts. The E.U has been investigating the company over similar issues as in India. In fact, it is even drafting the “Digital Services Act” which should checkmate these excesses and more.
Google said in response that the new regulations should take into account that the requirements of individuals and companies on technology companies are increasing, rather than decreasing. Karan Bhatia, the company’s vice president of global government affairs and public policy, said: “As we have clearly stated in our public and private communications, we are concerned that certain proposals in the bill will affect global technology companies. It is difficult to meet the increasing demands of European users and enterprises”.
The document recommends that Google’s US “allies” increase their resistance to Breton. They will contact the US government and embassy over this issue. For Google, the new regulations will threaten relations across the Atlantic. In addition, the document also proposes to take advantage of the potential concerns of the European Commission’s competition department. It is claiming that the “Digital Services Act” will threaten the authority of the department.
Another part of Google’s strategy is to clarify the costs that consumers and businesses need to bear. At the same time, the 18-page document also proposes to recruit EU countries and European online companies as “allies”.
For the European Union, a couple of companies like Google have too much power on the market. According to a recent investigation, the company has an absolute monopoly over the search engine market. The EU believes that it is wrong to own a market and also own a shop in the same market. Such a company will have an unfair advantage over its competitors.
