The founder of the web browser Opera has accused Google of "anti-competitive" practices.

"A monopoly both in search and advertising, Google, unfortunately shows that they are not able to resist the misuse of power," wrote Jon von Tetzchner, now CEO of Vivaldi, in a blog post on Monday.

He also intimated there may have been a connection between an interview published in tech glad-rag WIRED, where he criticised data gathering and ad targeting by Google and Facebook, and the suspension of Vivaldi's Google AdWords accounts two days later.

"Was this just a coincidence?" he wrote. "Or was it deliberate, a way of sending a message?"

The Opera founder said Vivaldi was able to work with Google's requirements in order to lift the suspension "after almost three months".

"I am saddened by this makeover of a geeky, positive company into the bully they are in 2017," he wrote. "It is also fair to say that Google is now in a position where regulation is needed.

What Von Tetzchner is suggesting, if true, would be remarkably mean-spirited, and we certainly don’t have any insight into whether his allegations are accurate, but Google has form on the antitrust front.

In June, EU regulators fined it €2.4bn for illegally promoting its shopping service ahead of others (it submitted a plan for dealing with that in August). Google has faced several regulation-linked court cases in and outside the European Union.

Google has not yet responded to a request for comment from The Reg. ®