Internet giant Google is misusing its market dominance in digital advertising in ways that cause "likely harms" to advertisers, publishers, and "ultimately consumers" by forcing up prices for all three, according to Australia's competition watchdog.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's final report into Digital Advertising Services, released on Tuesday,
found Google had its hand in "more than 90 per cent of ad impressions" on the internet, and its dominance has forced up the price of advertising online.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said raising the price of digital ads was ultimately inflating the price of goods for consumers at the end the transaction.
"We are concerned that the lack of competition has likely led to higher ad tech fees," Sims said.
"An inefficient ad tech industry means higher costs for both publishers and advertisers, which is likely to reduce the quality or quantity of online content and ultimately results in consumers paying more for advertised goods."
