The tech giant denies claims by the South African Competition Commission (CompCom) that it unfairly extracted value from local publishers, arguing its contributions to them are significant. Google challenges CompCom’s findings, asserting that its products generate a substantial amount of referral traffic for South African publishers while earning significantly less revenue from related activities. 2023 data shows Google Search and News generated R350 million in referral traffic value for local publishers, with only R19 million earned from ads displayed alongside news queries.