SAO PAULO, April 23 (Reuters) - Brazil's antitrust watchdog CADE approved on Thursday a recommendation to deepen investigations into the use of journalistic content by Alphabet's Google, which would assess potential abuse of the company's dominant market position.
CADE's members backed a proposal from its interim chief Diogo Thomson de Andrade to return the case to its general superintendence for formal administrative proceedings, citing the evolution of Google's conduct since the 2019 inquiry began.
CONTEXT
• The case began following CADE's 2019 determination to examine competitive conditions in search and news markets.
• Initial investigation focused on Google's automated collection of journalistic content and its display in search results.
• CADE's general superintendence had previously recommended shelving the case for lack of sufficient evidence of violations.
NEW FINDINGS
• De Andrade's new analysis noted Google's conduct evolved with AI generative features that synthesize information directly in search interfaces.
• It highlighted the potential structural dependency of news publishers on Google's search mechanisms for audience reach.
• De Andrade pointed out this could constitute exploitative abuse through extracting value from third-party content without proportional compensation.
• Google said in a statement it believes CADE's decision reflects a "misunderstanding" of how its products work, adding it will continue to engage to address any questions.
(Reporting by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Nia Williams and Lincoln Feast.)
