UK regulator urges reforms to curb Google, Facebook ad power

LONDON (AP) — British regulators want new rules to foster competition in digital advertising markets and rein in the industry’s dominant players, Google and Facebook.

The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at the U.S. tech giants in a report Wednesday that recommends the British government adopt a new regulatory approach to governing big digital platforms making money from online ads.

The authority said it was concerned that the two companies have developed “such unassailable market positions” that rivals can’t compete on equal terms, resulting in higher prices for hotels, flights, electronics, insurance and other goods and services that are heavily advertised online.

Google and Facebook accounted for about 80% of the 14 billions pounds ($17 billion) earned by the U.K.‘s digital ad industry last year, the authority said. Google controls more than 90% of the U.K.’s 7.3 billion pound search advertising market while Facebook has more than half of its 5.5 billion pound display ad market.

After a yearlong review, regulators found that existing laws aren’t up to the job of effectively regulating the country’s digital ad markets.

“If the market power of these firms goes unchecked, people and businesses will lose out,” said, Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s chief executive. “People will carry on handing over more of their personal data than necessary, a lack of competition could mean higher prices for goods and services bought online and we could all miss out on the benefits of the next innovative digital platform.”

The watchdog proposes a new “digital markets unit” with powers that would include ordering Google to share its data with rival search engines so they can improve their algorithms and limiting the search giant’s ability to secure the default search engine position on mobile phones and browsers.

Under the new rules…

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