Mexico's antitrust authority announced that it has concluded its investigation into Google, exonerating the tech company from any possible fines after a lengthy inquiry found no evidence of monopolistic behavior in the nation.
The investigation evaluated Google's advertising services on its search results page and third-party sites, scrutinizing whether the company had an unfair competitive edge in the digital advertising market due to how its platform was designed for purchasing online ads.
Cofece stated that its findings indicated that users of Google were not obligated to buy advertising on third-party sites to advertise on Google's search engine.
Previously, Google was at risk of incurring a fine of up to eight percent of its annual revenue in Mexico if Cofece concluded that it had engaged in monopolistic practices.
Though Google’s parent company Alphabet does not disclose specific revenue figures for Mexico in its financial reports, it was noted that for the year 2024, revenue in its "other Americas" region, which encompasses Latin America, amounted to around $20.4 billion.
Globally, Google encounters antitrust issues as regulators are concerned about the advantages its search engine provides.
In the US, a federal district judge ruled last year that Google possesses an unlawful monopoly in the realm of online search and related advertising.
The US Justice Department and a coalition of states are pushing for Google to disclose search data and to stop making multibillion-dollar payments to Apple and other device manufacturers to remain the default search engine on their products.
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In another incident, a US federal judge asserted that Google unlawfully monopolized two sectors of online advertising technology, leading the Justice Department to advocate for the sale of at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company's ad server and its ad exchange.