The UK’s antitrust watchdog has started a new investigation of Alphabet’s Google on suspicion that the tech giant may have abused its dominant position across its ad tech.

The move by the Competition and Markets Authority opens a fresh front in its regulatory tussle with Google. The CMA said it was concerned that Google sought to favour its own ad exchange services illegally while taking steps to exclude services offered by rivals.

“Weakening competition in this area could reduce the ad revenues of publishers, who may be forced to compromise the quality of their content to cut costs or put their content behind pay walls,” said Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s CEO.

Watchdogs around the world have started to home in on the huge power that companies such as Google and Meta’s Facebook wield over ad markets, striking at the heart of the tech giants’ moneymaking machines. Google faces a separate probe by the CMA into possible collusion over the way it operates online display advertising services. 

Google did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Bloomberg