Google Canada Corp. suffered a major setback in its long-running legal battle over alleged anti‑competitive marketing practices after the Competition Tribunal of Canada dismissed the company’s constitutional challenge to federal investigators’ authority to seek massive penalties. Blacklock's Reporter says the decision clears the way for the government’s case to proceed, potentially exposing the tech giant to billions in fines.In a statement, Interim Competition Commissioner Jeanne Pratt said the ruling “reinforces [the Tribunal’s] clear authority to order administrative monetary penalties to promote compliance,” and made clear federal regulators were pressing ahead with their case.Google had argued that the federal Bureau’s demands for administrative monetary penalties — including a penalty equal to up to three times the revenue “derived from anti‑competitive practice” or 3% of worldwide gross revenues — could result in fines measured in the tens of billions of dollars. The Tribunal’s ruling noted Google claimed the penalties sought could exceed $90 billion, a figure the company labelled “outright punitive.” Nonetheless, the Tribunal concluded the constitutional challenge should be rejected and the underlying case must move forward.The dispute dates back more than a decade. .Canadian regulators first flagged competition concerns about Google in 2013, shortly after a similar examination by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. At the time, the Competition Bureau alleged Google may have abused its dominant position in online advertising, citing biased search results and terms designed to reward advertisers or push competitors’ links down search pages. That early investigation was dropped in 2016 due to insufficient evidence, officials said at the time.In 2021, federal investigators reopened their inquiry, this time focusing on online display advertising. Court filings accuse Google of wielding market power in one or more Canadian online ad markets and engaging in “anti‑competitive acts” that “substantially prevent or lessen competition” in violation of the Competition Act.The Bureau has asked a federal judge to compel Google to produce extensive records — including documents dating back to 2013 on YouTube ad sales, costs and net profits, the number of Canadian YouTube users and average watch times. In its filings, the Bureau noted that “YouTube is the largest source of online video ad inventory for advertisers in Canada” and is often seen as “must have” inventory.
