Photo/Illutration The logo of Google LLC is seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. (Reuters file photo)

The Fair Trade Commission has obligated Google LLC to abide by its corrective action plan over suspicions that it unfairly restricted a Japanese rival’s search advertising business.

The FTC certified Google’s plan as workable, the first administrative action against the U.S. search engine giant based on the Anti-Monopoly Law, commission officials said April 22.

Yahoo Japan Corp. has been providing keyword-targeted search advertising services based on Google’s technology since they entered an online advertising tie-up in 2010.

The FTC said Google in November 2014 demanded the Japanese internet service provider stop delivering search advertisements to smartphone sites other than its own.

Yahoo, which merged with Line Corp. to form LY Corp. last year, became unable to deliver such advertisements from September 2015, at the latest, officials said.

Google retracted its demand following the FTC’s investigation based on the Anti-Monopoly Law, and Yahoo was able to resume its services in November 2022, officials said.

Google submitted its voluntary plan to the FTC earlier this month under the commission’s “commitment procedure.”

The procedure is a type of administrative action that the FTC introduced in 2018 to promptly deal with suspected anti-competitive practices.

In its “commitment plan,” Google said it will not restrict provision of its technology to Yahoo during the coming three years unless authorized by the FTC.

Google also promised to accept regular audits by outside experts and report the status of compliance with the measures included in its plan for three years.

The FTC said it will continue to monitor Google’s operations and reopen its investigation based on the Anti-Monopoly Law if the company fails to fulfill its obligations.

It will not issue a cease-and-desist order or a surcharge payment order, which are normally imposed as punishment for anti-competitive practices.

The domestic market of search advertising is worth an estimated 1.07 trillion yen ($6.93 billion) as of 2023.

According to an FTC report released in 2021, Google dominated the market with a 70- to 80-percent share as of fiscal 2019, while the remaining portion was held by its only rival, Yahoo.

(This article was written by Yuji Masuyama and Kyota Tanaka.)

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