Thread by @jason_kint

ok, thread coming.
Just-released 200pg final report from Australia's competition and consumer protection regulator states emphatically Google's dominance in adtech harms both businesses and consumers. This table explains to any layperson why. #DominatingAllSidesOfMarket /1

yellow highlights are mine having now read full report (and prior interim report). Prior chart ⬆️ shows overwhelming market power (aka "Being Bad") on all sides of transactions. Report also includes conduct (aka "Behaving Badly"). The two combined create unanimous concerns. /2

What do I mean by all sides of the market? Focus on the sentence in yellow and consider any other high-speed marketplace this market power exists on all sides. No wonder Google has systematically shifted its revenues towards higher-margin inventory pools (its own). /3

ACCC correctly confirms its concerns lie at the integration of data and competition policy. Data separation measures are key as we're seeing in proposed laws in Europe and US that prevent gatekeepers from misusing market power. I don't think ACCC nailed this area in report. /4

I see Google lobbied hard its limited use of 1st party data - leaving many concerns in the semantics and use of derivative and inferred data. Report also doesn't fully capture Google's overwhelming dominance in its third party data aggregation across web, devices, our lives. /5

Google's responses made a laughable point by focusing on % of people available to 3rd party trackers of other companies rather than share of their activities across web, devices, locations. Freshness of data is critically important, Google and FB dominate. ACCC caught this. 👏🏽/6

ACCC also clearly understands issues of "anti-competitive" tying by Google in which it uses its overwhelming market power in aggregating demand (advertisers spending power) in order to aggregate and maintain marker power on the supply side (SSPs). This mirrors state AGs suit. /7

this illustration was in interim report. This is the ad market built by the open internet and its "champion," Google. Well done, industry. No wonder one company keeps $200+ billion in ad revenue acting as our ventilator with just enough air support to decide who gets to live. /8

Interesting. Looks like ACCC enhanced its data + antitrust concerns from two sources: (1) Xandr, whose former CEO and founder testified on Google's anticompetitive activities, reconfirms power in data, (2) internal Google docs from ACCC requests. They. Sell. It. That. Way. /9

When there are no new success stories on the buy or sell-side in an industry with incredible disruption and changes underway for "everyone else," it certainly indicates there is a problem. The financial success of Google has resulted in less oxygen for everyone else. /10

There is a fly-in box 4.1 aptly making the comparison of Google's market dominance in adtech across the supply chain to the financial markets.... aka a "Conflict of interest"... ya think? /11

THIS SHOULD BE ILLEGAL. ACTUALLY, IT *IS* ILLEGAL. I challenge you to tell me why it isn't. /12

moving on to the "We'll fix the future for you" section - aka Google's Privacy Sandbox.

Note, the two points in yellow cannot both be true. The former is according to a monopolist with shareholder obligations, the latter is according to an antitrust regulator. /13

hello, arbitrage. you've been hiding below the surface throughout this report. /14

to the question whether this matters, absof******lutely. many of ACCC's independent findings are consistent with US state AGs. They don't seem to have dug into the potentially criminal market rigging with Facebook allegation of state AGs but rest of conduct mirrors US. /15

and most importantly, US Department of Justice is reported to be finalizing its own lawsuit for Google's adtech biz with a new dept head to be confirmed. Unless Google is able to once again strong arm its influence on an administration (hello Obama), it will move forward. /16

If u read UK CMA report, Texas AGs lawsuit, Congress's report now this ACCC report (link here), you won't see much air between the allegations and necessary fixes including data purpose limitations, siloing of gatekeepers, separation of biz, et al. /17 accc.gov.au/system/files/D…

first great report - well covered Reuters - gets it right. Significance is seeking to curb Google's power by curbing data access - ACCC did NOT recommend doing it through required data portability (monopoly preference) or even interoperability. Bravo. /18 reuters.com/business/media…

also a great report here. once again connects the dots between data dominance and market dominance and increased prices for consumers.
Shocking statistic: "Google is involved 90 per cent of the time when Australians click ads online" /19 thenewdaily.com.au/finance/financ…

And Gizmodo deserves props for its report but also its choice of art and headline. /20 gizmodo.com.au/2021/09/accc-g…

Another great report courtesy of Financial Times. so Google would like you to believe 15,000 jobs depend on it preserving market power rather than do the math on how many jobs can be funded when there is actual competition and a healthy supply chain. ft.com/content/d41c72…