Google rejects Australian regulator’s call for scrutiny

SYDNEY: Alphabet Inc’s Google has rejected calls by Australia’s competition regulator for tougher scrutiny of its operations, denying that it enjoys market power in online searches and advertising, documents published on Monday showed.
The global giant was responding to recommendations made late last year by the watchdog, such as increased scrutiny and a new regulatory body to monitor the dominance of tech giants in online advertising and news markets.
“The preliminary report bases many of its recommendations on the mistaken premise that Google has market power in search, search advertising, and news media referrals,” Google wrote in a Feb. 18 statement published by the regulator.