PubGuards to Probe Google's Ad Domination

03 October 2026

Global scrutiny intensifies on tech giant's digital advertising empire

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has opened a sweeping new investigation into Google's dominance of the online advertising ecosystem. The probe follows a complaint by the Advertising and Affiliate Industry Foundation of India (ADIF) alleging Google has abused its market power across digital advertising tools.

The CCI, in an order published on August 1, said the investigation would examine alleged antitrust practices in the market for Google's ad-tech intermediation services. These tools, used by publishers and advertisers for displaying banner ads, "include publisher ad servers, ad buying tools, and ad exchanges," the regulator noted.

The investigation was triggered by a complaint in March 2024 from ADIF, a non-profit representing major Indian companies including Paytm, Bharat Matrimony, and SHEROES. ADIF alleged publishers and advertisers lacked visibility into Google's revenue share and fee structures. In particular, it claimed Google did not fully disclose fees for its Google Ads product, and in 2023 hiked the charges for Google Ad Manager from 5% to over 30%.

Self-Preferencing Alleged

ADIF also accused Google of "self-preferencing" by combining its publisher ad server DFP with its ad exchange AdX, and bundling them into one offering called GAM. Further, it asserted Google links access to its YouTube ad inventory to the use of its supply-side platform, Display & Video 360.

Additionally, ADIF contended that Google's ad allocation, bidding systems, and fee structure in Display & Video 360 and Google Ad Manager lacked transparency. The Financial Express reported ADIF alleged transparency issues with Google AdSense for Search as well.

The CCI said it would direct its Director General (DG) to probe Google on these counts and submit a consolidated report. The regulator noted the case would be clubbed with earlier related investigations it is handling.

The new CCI probe adds to global scrutiny of Google's online ad empire. In September, the European Commission hit Google with a record €1.49 billion fine, stating Google had exploited publishers by abusing its dominance of "publisher ad servers" through DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP), now Google Ad Manager. The commission found Google had broken antitrust laws "at least between 2016 and 2021."

In its September ruling, the EU regulator said it would also investigate Google for abusing its dominance in the market for programmatic ad buying tools, including DSPs and ad networks, through GoogleAds and Display & Video 360. The EU case covers the same online display advertising intermediation markets as the CCI probe.

With the latest CCI investigation, reporters will be seeking to keep a close eye on this major probe with many unknowns. There's not yet a timetable on when the Director General will finish its preliminary report, let alone what specific charges, if any, may be brought against Google from there.

Similarly, the exact scope of the investigatory powers will determine how deeply publishers can gain more transparency into Google's inner ad tech workings and learn how to navigate its tools and contracts in a less opaque way.

Most importantly, the path ahead remains unclear as to whether the CCI will reach any of the same conclusions or penalties as the EU regulator has on Google's adtech market abuse. Notably, the EU's €1.49b fine was the highest it ever imposed, and it included a remedial requirement that previous infringers like Microsoft had to implement. The EU has now fined Google over €8 billion for antitrust violations since 2017.

The CCI investigation remains ongoing, with no clear timeline set for when or how it may conclude. At the same time, the CCI probe comes at a pivotal moment in the ongoing worldwide effort to regulate Google's digital advertising dominance.