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Google has been hesitant to take action against media conglomerate IAC’s marketing practices that it deemed misleading for fear of exacerbating its own antitrust scrutiny, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
Researchers within Google found that IAC-created extensions for Google’s Chrome web browser offered some untracked features and directed users to additional advertisements, the Journal reported based on documents it reviewed. Google’s internal report recommended “immediate removal and deactivation” of browser extensions, according to the Journal.
While Google removed five IAC browser extensions, the report says, others remain available. People familiar with the matter told the Journal that executives, including Google Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker, feared that sanctions against IAC could be considered anti-competitive at a time when Google faces an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department and other antitrust investigations. run by attorneys general in most states. .
IAC responded to the report by saying that Google had already approved the browser extensions and even worked closely with IAC to make them compatible.
“Google has taken hundreds of millions of dollars from us to advertise and distribute these products on the Chrome Store. There is nothing new here: Google has used their position to reduce our browser business to the last corner of the Internet, which they are now looking to nullify” an IAC spokesperson said in a statement. “Google has significant control over what we do with these products. Last year we worked closely with Google on a thorough review and approval of our entire Chrome product line, including how products are advertised and installed, down to size. source, and all of our products were reconfirmed and approved this year along with the renewal of our partnership agreement. “
IAC, which owns brands like Angie’s List, Investopedia and The Daily Beast, has been a major investor in Google ads in recent history, the Journal reported based on information from Kantar Media and current and former Google employees. Expedia, which shares chairman with IAC at Barry Diller, also spends heavily on the platform. But Expedia, along with other travel sites, has expressed the need to be less reliant on Google in light of its own forays into the travel search space.
Google is currently facing an antitrust lawsuit from the Justice Department alleging that it has illegally used its monopoly power to tie up distribution channels for competitors in the online search market. Walker called the complaint “deeply flawed” and Google’s attorneys have indicated it would challenge the claims in court.
Google’s Chrome browser has already drawn scrutiny for its decision earlier this year to phase out support for third-party cookies used to track users and target ads. Ad groups strongly rejected the plan, saying it could “cut off the economic oxygen of advertising that startups and startups need to survive.” Still, several analysts have said that the change is not likely to have as negative an impact on advertising competitors as investors initially feared.
Read the full report in The Wall Street Journal.
-Julia Boorstin of CNBC contributed to this report.
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