Canada sues Google over ad tech – and it’s not alone

December 05, 2024

A neon Google logo at the then-new Google office in Toronto in 2012.

REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Following the lead of the US Department of Justice, Canada is suing Google, alleging the tech giant is using its dominant position in the market to rig the online advertising market in its favor.

Canada wants Google to split two of its ad tech tools and pay an administrative penalty “equal to three times the value of the benefit derived from Google’s anti-competitive practices, or if that amount cannot be reasonably determined, 3% of Google’s worldwide gross revenues.” So, potentially a decent chunk of cash.

Google is facing suits all over the place right now as countries struggle to reign in the company.

In 2021, the US launched a suit against Google alleging it was subverting competition in the online ad space. That suit, similar to the Canadian case, is ongoing. The US is also looking to break up Google, demanding it sell off its Chrome browser after a judge ruled in a separate case that the company has a monopoly on internet searches.

The European Union is also fighting Google over its ad practices, leaving the company encircled, but nowhere near defeated as cases, appeals, and deal-making will drag on for months or years.

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FREIBERG, GERMANY - DECEMBER 10: Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) speak to the media following talks over lithium mining on December 10, 2024 in Freiberg, Germany. Germany and Serbia will be cooperating in the sustainable mining of lithium, a critical substance for the production of batteries for electric cars. A company called Zinnwald Lithium GmbH intends to mine up to 15,000 tons of lithium annually in the region of Saxony near Freiberg, enough to build one million electric car batteries. Serbia also has extensive lithium deposits.

(Photo by Sean Gallup - Pool/Getty Images) via Reuters

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Marine Tondelier, of Les Ecologistes party, talks to journalists next to colleagues as they leave a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Dec. 10. They had met with the French president as part of consultations aimed at appointing a new prime minister.

REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq

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On Tuesday, France’s President Emmanuel Macron hosted a meeting with the leaders of center, center-right, and center-left political parties at the Elysee Palace in a bid to end France’s political crisis by building support for a new prime minister and a 2025 budget.