Google facing £5 bn UK lawsuit over ad searches: firms

Google on Wednesday said it would "vigorously" defend itself after some 250,000 UK businesses filed a multi-billion-pound legal claim against the US tech giant for allegedly overcharging for online advertising.

Law firm Geradin Partners said it had filed a £5 billion ($6.6 billion) claim with Britain's Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), arguing that Google "abused its dominant position to exclude competitors from the general search and search advertising markets".

Geradin noted that regulators worldwide "have described Google as operating a 'monopoly' and courts in the US and EU have found that Google's conduct broke competition laws".

A Google spokesperson described the CAT filing as "yet another speculative and opportunistic case".

"We will argue against it vigorously. Consumers and advertisers use Google because it helpful, not because there are no alternatives," they added.

The latest case relates to searches carried out via Google since 2011.

"Through a range of deliberate and exclusionary practices, it has sought to eliminate its rivals and dominate the search advertising market, ultimately overcharging UK advertisers by billions of pounds," the founding partner of Geradin, Damien Geradin, said in a statement.

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"This is the first claim of its kind in the UK that seeks redress for the harm caused specifically to businesses who have been forced to pay inflated prices for advertising space on Google pages."

A similar UK class action was filed against Google in 2023, this time seeking compensation of £7 billion to be shared among consumers, with businesses seen as passing on costs.

Last year, a £13.6-billion claim against Google was filed for alleged anti-competitiveness in digital advertising.

Both cases are ongoing.

Britain's Competition and Markets Authority is also investigating Google's alleged dominance in the search-engine market, looking at its impact for consumers and businesses.

The investigation could lead to the company being handed "strategic market status", subjecting it to special requirements under new UK regulations.

A similar tech competition law from the European Union, the Digital Markets Act, carries hefty financial penalities for giants like Apple, Google and Meta in the event of infringements.

Source: AFP