How Canada is trying to rein in Big Tech as data becomes more powerful
BNN Bloomberg
While Canada is edging toward new legislation that will redistribute some revenue from social media companies to news publishers and better protect privacy around consumer data, many are also hoping an ongoing review of the country’s Competition Act will level the tech playing field.
It was 2015. The tech giant had just reorganized its subsidiaries under the Alphabet banner and was evaluating whether recent forays into riskier ventures like self-driving cars, internet-beaming balloons and smart city infrastructure could replicate the success of its search engine business. As advertising revenues and growth slowed, the company felt pressure to boost profits, leaving Marc Poirier's Brossard, Que., company caught up in a no-win scenario.
“I experienced first-hand Google going from partner to fierce competitor,” said Poirier. “They started selling the same stuff that we built.”
Revenue growth at Acquisio, which sold software helping marketers manage bids and budgets for Google, Yahoo and Microsoft search campaigns, almost immediately stopped and then began to tumble. Poirier started thinking about selling, which he eventually did with a Web.com deal in 2017.
