The UK’s competition watchdog has opened a second investigation into Google’s practices in digital advertising.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating whether the tech giant has broken the law by restricting competition in the ad tech market.

“We’re worried that Google may be using its position in ad tech to favour its own services to the detriment of its rivals, of its customers and ultimately of consumers,” said Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA. “This would be bad for the millions of people who enjoy access to a wealth of free information online every day.”

She added that weakening competition could reduce the ad revenues of publishers who could be "forced to compromise the quality of their content" in order to cut cost or put their content behind paywalls.

In March, the CMA launched a competition investigation into Google and Meta’s ‘Jedi Blue’ agreement.

The regulator is exploring whether the companies restricted or prevented the uptake of header bidding services. It’s also trying to determine whether Google impacted the ability of other companies to compete with its products in this area.

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