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CCI Expands Google AdTech Probe over Alleged Anti-Competitive Advertising Practices

AdTech

Business Honor
05 August, 2025

CCI deepens investigation into Google’s AdTech for abusing dominance in digital advertising market.

India’s Competition Commission (CCI) has extended its investigation into Google’s advertising technology (AdTech) business. This move comes after a new complaint by the Alliance of Digital India Foundation (ADIF), a group representing Indian startups like Matrimony, Paytm and MapmyIndia. The complaint alleges that Google is misusing its dominant position in the online advertising space.

The new case has been merged with four ongoing investigations involving Google’s AdTech services. These include concerns raised earlier by digital news publishers and other industry bodies. ADIF claims that Google uses its power in both online search ads and display ads to follow unfair practices that hurt advertisers and publishers.

The CCI has now asked its investigative wing, the Director General (DG), to combine all these cases and conduct a detailed probe into Google’s AdTech business, especially its display advertising services and how it operates its advertising stack.

However, the CCI has dismissed one part of ADIF’s complaint related to Google Ads' policies in the search advertising market. The Commission said this issue has already been examined in previous cases, and there's no need to reopen it.

This is not Google’s first clash with Indian regulators. In past years, the CCI has fined the tech giant for unfair practices in its Play Store policies and the Android ecosystem. Google has challenged some of these rulings in court, while also offering settlements in other cases.

As online advertising becomes more important to India’s growing digital economy, the outcome of these investigations could be helpful in deciding on how global tech firms like Google operate in the country’s AdTech space.