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Mexican regulator accuses Google of monopolistic practices

in

digital advertising

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Potential fine could be largest ever by Mexican antitrust

watchdog

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Google's legal challenges mirror those in the United

States

By Cassandra Garrison

MEXICO CITY, June 10 (Reuters) - Mexico's antitrust

watchdog is set to rule by next week on whether Google built an

illegal monopoly in digital advertising in the country, a

decision that could fine the tech giant 8% of its annual Mexican

revenue, public documents show.

Although Google does not release detailed revenue results by

country, the potential fine could be among the largest ever

imposed by Mexico's Federal Economic Competition Commission

(Cofece). Cofece and Google declined to comment.

The watchdog expects to make a decision by June 17,

according to its own published timeline. Under Mexican law, 8%

of annual revenue is the maximum fine for monopolistic

practices.

Cofece accuses the company of establishing an effective

monopoly in the Mexican digital advertising market. It began its

investigation into Google Mexico in 2020 and issued a summons in

2023, beginning the trial phase of the procedure.

Google then had the opportunity to present evidence against

the allegations.

A company can apply for an injunction blocking the antitrust

ruling until a specialized court decides on whether it should be

ratified or not.

Cofece requested Google's financial information from tax

authority SAT, a timeline of updates on the case's record of

history showed.

While Google parent Alphabet does not include

specific revenue numbers for Mexico in its earnings reports, the

U.S. tech giant is the largest company to be challenged by

Mexico's antitrust regulator.

According to annual results for 2024, the company's revenue

for its "other Americas" region, which includes Latin America,

was about $20.4 billion.

In 2022, Cofece fined a group of liquefied petroleum gas

distributors 2.4 billion Mexican pesos ($126.03 million) for

price fixing.

Cofece's database shows that an oral hearing with Google

about the case, considered one of the final steps in such cases,

took place on May 20.

In 2020, in response to anticompetitive investigations into

Google, Lina Ornelas, Director of Public Policy and Government

Relations at Google Mexico, said at a company event, "Being big

isn't bad. What matters is that you don't take out any

competitors with your products, even though yours can be very

efficient, and that's why you have more users."

Separately, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has clashed

with Google, filing a suit against the company over its decision

to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of

America" for U.S. users of Google Maps, after President Donald

Trump renamed the body of water. The suit argues Google does not

have the "authority" to rename it.

Lawmakers from the ruling Morena party have since last year

called on Cofece to resolve Google's long-standing case.

If Cofece rules against Google, the move would mirror the

tech titan's legal woes in the United States, where a U.S.

district judge last year ruled it holds an unlawful monopoly in

online search and related advertising.

The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of states want

Google to share search data and cease multibillion-dollar

payments to Apple and other smartphone makers to be the default

search engine on new devices. Antitrust enforcers are concerned

about how Google's search monopoly gives it an advantage.

In a separate case, a federal judge said Google illegally

dominated two markets for online advertising technology, with

the Justice Department saying that Google should sell off at

least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company's

publisher ad server and its ad exchange.

($1 = 19.0435 Mexican pesos)