Abuse of dominance in online display ads

On August 1, 2025, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered a detailed investigation into Google’s anti-competitive conduct in the online display advertising market. The directive came in response to a complaint filed by the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a coalition of Indian startups and developers. ADIF accused Google of abusing its dominant position across multiple layers of the digital advertising supply chain, known as the AdTech Stack, by engaging in practices such as bundling its services, favoring its own platforms and operating with opacity that disadvantages publishers, advertisers and rival intermediaries.

The complaint specifically focuses on Google’s conduct in the open online display advertising ecosystem, a segment distinct from Google’s owned-and-operated (O&O) platforms like YouTube. In open channels, where a wide range of publishers compete for advertisers via intermediated bidding, ADIF claims Google has effectively positioned itself as a gatekeeper.