Japan’s antitrust regulator said Google used tactics that limited Yahoo Japan’s ability to compete in targeted search advertising, and vowed to continue monitoring the U.S. company.
From 2015 to 2022, Alphabet-owned Google blocked Yahoo Japan from accessing technology needed to receive targeted ad revenue from searches on mobile devices, the Fair Trade Commission said. Alphabet changed its behavior as soon as the watchdog flagged the practice and has pledged to give Yahoo Japan access to keyword-targeted ad technology, the FTC said Monday.
“Google’s actions had a significant effect on limiting competition,” FTC official Saiko Nakajima told reporters. Yahoo Japan is a subsidiary of LY, which operates the country’s largest messaging app Line. Japan’s watchdog will continue to monitor the situation and reserves the right to reopen its investigation into Google, Nakajima said.
That promise was part of the FTC’s first-ever administrative action against Alphabet without sanction.
Antitrust enforcers around the world are increasingly concerned that a small number of large companies control many of the world’s most important technologies. Regulators fear that companies like Microsoft, Google and Amazon are using their technology and scale to frustrate or buy out potential rivals and stay on top.
Alphabet is fending off complaints at home and abroad that it uses unlawful tactics to block competition. In the US, the company is facing a $700 million settlement after dozens of attorneys general filed complaints that developers must go through the Google Play App Store to reach users.
Japanese authorities are also investigating Alphabet to see if it has asked local smartphone makers to prioritize search services on their devices.
