Google’s parent company Alphabet is facing a class action in the UK seeking £5 billion (€5.83 billion) in damages over claims British advertisers were hurt by the company’s anticompetitive behaviour.
Or Brook, an associate professor in competition law at the University of Leeds, alleges in the suit that Google used its dominant position to “exclude actual and potential competitors from the general search and search advertising market”.
The suit also accuses Google of forcing phone manufacturers to preinstall Google Search and Chrome on Android devices, which has allowed the company to “charge supra-competitive ad prices” that drive up prices for search advertising and losses for the companies that depend on ad revenue.
The suit also alleges Google paid Apple “billions of pounds” to set up Google as the default search engine on Safari.
“Today, UK businesses and organisations, big or small, have almost no choice but to use Google ads to advertise their products and services,” Brook said in a statement.
“This class action is about holding Google accountable for its unlawful practices and seeking compensation on behalf of UK advertisers who have been overcharged”.
The suit alleges that Alphabet made £14 billion (€16.35 billion) in search advertisement in 2023 alone. If successful, the claim would compensate any company that purchased Google ads from January 1, 2011 to April 15, 2025.
Euronews Next reached out to Alphabet for a response but did not receive an immediate reply.
The class action comes after the UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA) launched an investigation to determine whether Google has significant market share in the search engine and search advertising markets.
Earlier this week, Japan issued a “cease-and-desist” to Google, a first in its history according to Japanese media, over an alleged breach of antitrust laws.
