The U.S government is now observing Google's business operation due to allegedly manipulating the online marketing competition.
An antitrust probe is now being considered by the Federal Trade Commission, a government agency that promotes consumer protection and prohibits anti-competitive business transactions, to see if the search engine giant is really using its superiority in the online advertising market to unlawfully control the competition among brands.
Google is still the top ad player in the U.S which 15.1 percent of the market share followed by Facebook with 14.6 percent share. Google may reach 20 percent in 2014 based on the analysis of the industry research firm eMarketer.
In 2012, Google earned approximately $2.26 billion and may reach $3.11 by the end of this year.
Last January, FTC already began its preliminary investigation reviewing the Google Search business of Google. The search engine has been under observation after its shares jumped to $17.7 billion because of its banner ads posted in several web sites.
Another group is also analyzing Google's operation trying to link the sales of Motorola Mobility to its search business. The European Union wanted to see if Google was not favoring its own brand over other device manufacturers. Once they have finalized their evidences, they will file an antitrust complaint.
The Canada Competition Bureau is getting ready to start a formal inquisition on Google's search business.
There were different complaints related to antitrust since Google acquired DoubleClick in 2007. It was reported that DoubleClick is redirecting viewers to use other products including the Ad Exchange.
Both Google and the FTC refused to comment on any of the allegations. However, this is not the first time that Google is faced with an antitrust probe since they had had settled one last January after the 20-month investigation of FTC.
