Comcast emerges as new Google antitrust enemy


This happened behind the closed doors of a congressional task force last month. The comcast video ads division, FreeWheel, accused Alphabet Inc’s Google of using privacy concerns as a pretext.

They say it was to limit FreeWheel’s ability to sell ads on behalf of its clients’ YouTube channels. This was according to four people briefed on the discussion.



Google’s competitors are warning lawmakers that emerging privacy regulations could help Google extend its dominance.

“FreeWheel would embrace a solution that allowed it to continue to meaningfully serve its clients when they publish their content on YouTube, as it had for over a decade on that platform,” Comcast said in a statement.

They added: “Unfortunately, the actions to remove or degrade FreeWheel’s capabilities on YouTube fall well short of that.”







Google declined to comment on Comcast’s recent actions but has said it is cooperating with the investigations and that it faces robust competition in advertising, including from Comcast.

Privacy push



It is rather than using Google’s competing tool, ensuring access to their single, preferred system across various streaming websites and apps.


But last year, Google closed FreeWheel’s pipe into YouTube in Europe. They cited the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation that imposed new requirements on companies seeking to share consumer data.

In the United States, Google has allowed FreeWheel’s continued use on the condition that tests this month.


The data reduction could make FreeWheel’s system less attractive to media companies and their advertisers, potentially prompting a shift to Google, the source said.


A FreeWheel representative brought up the issue at a private hearing in September of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Tech Task Force, led by Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, the sources briefed on the discussion said.


Her spokeswoman declined to comment on FreeWheel’s task force comments.

Internet tracking


The move, technically known as DNS-over-HTTPS, increases users’ privacy. It also improves security by limiting some companies. It includes internet service providers, from tracking users’ browsing.


Trade associations for cable and wireless companies including Comcast spoke to Congress last month. They said that the move could “possibly foreclose competition in advertising and other industries.”

Comcast told Reuters that it was open to working with Google on the issue in way that ensures various security and parental controls are not broken, but that “any unilateral action that limits customer choice will not work.”

Google spokesman Scott Westover said its proposal maintains “all existing filters and controls” and that “any claim that we are trying to become the centralized encrypted DNS provider is inaccurate.”

Source: Reuters San Francisco, 1 October 2019

Reporting: Paresh Dave in San Francisco & Sheila Dang

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