On 6 September 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued a statement of objections provisionally finding that Google has abused its dominant position in digital advertising, specifically in the "ad tech stack", the digital advertising technology sector that consisting of intermediaries facilitating the buying and selling of online advertising space. Google plays a key role in three parts of the ad tech stack chain, operating two ad buying tools and a publisher ad server, as well as the ad exchange AdX. The CMA's investigation suggests that Google has engaged in self-preferencing by, among other things, giving AdX preferential access to advertiser bids, manipulating bids to favour AdX, and granting AdX a "first refusal" in auctions for ad space. The CMA will consider representations from Google before reaching its final decision.
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