Google faces a massive class-action lawsuit worth £5 billion
Unveiling a Fresh Firestorm: Google Slapped with UK Class Action Suit Over Alleged Monopolistic Practices
Get ready for another round of headlines, folks! Tech behemoth Google is once again under the microscope in the UK, this time faced with a class action lawsuit teeming with accusations of anti-competitive practices to cement its throne atop the search engine market.
Unleashing the Legal Storm
It's showdown time at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), where today (16 April) Or Brook Class Representative Limited - a London-based company led by competition law academic Dr Or Brook - tossed its hat into the ring. Representing thousands of UK businesses that relied on Google's search advertising services from January 2011 to April 2025, they're gunning for the tech titan for abusing its dominance and allegedly quashing competition.
Dr Brook wasted no time, stating: "Advertising via Google Ads has become a linchpin for businesses big and small. Regulators worldwide have tagged Google as a monopoly, and landing on Google's top pages is crucial for visibility." She continued, "This class action suit is about holding Google accountable for its questionable practices and seeking reparations for UK advertisers overcharged for advertisements."
Litigation funder Burford Capital is backing the claim.
Last month, Google coughed up $100 million to settle a 14-year-old US advertising class action stemming from alleged breaches of California's Unfair Competition Law. This isn't their first rodeo in disputes regarding questionable advertising practices.
Exposing the Elephant in the Room
At the heart of this legal hurricane lies the claim Google's anti-competitive tactics - pocketing billions by favoring Apple's pre-installed browser Safari and squashing competition - kept competitors at bay and granted Google the upper hand in the search advertising market. In plain English, they're accusing Google of hiking ad prices to sky-high levels.
According to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), over 200,000 UK advertisers bite the Google advertising services apple. With a grand commanding 90% share of the global search engine market, the stakes are sky-high.
The lawsuit is seeking a staggering damage settlement estimated around £5 billion, representing the overcharge experienced by all UK businesses since 2011, who took a seat with Google on the advertising bandwagon. With an opt-out class action, no businesses will slip through the cracks, unless they specifically opt out.
Damien Geradin, founding partner of Geradin Partners, offered his two cents: "This is the UK's first claim of its kind. It seeks to make amends for harm inflicted on businesses compelled to pay unwarranted premiums for ads on Google's pages. We're fully committed to levying justice and securing financial restitution for affected organizations and businesses."
The Main Players
In the ring, we've got an impressive roster of lawyers on the claimant's corner. Along with a team of digital markets and competition litigation experts from Geradin Partners, Or Brook Class Representative Limited is being advised by the legal eagles of Brick Court Chambers, Blackstone Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers, and 4 New Square Chambers.
For More Context:
-- The lawsuit is jumping on the bandwagon of increased scrutiny against Google in the UK and abroad. Theclass action follows investigations by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as well as similar actions and settlements in the US and other countries.
-- The UK case is novel for explicitly targeting inflated prices paid by businesses for Google’s search advertising services rather than broader competition issues.
-- Google has refuted the allegations vehemently, describing the lawsuit as "speculative and opportunistic." They insist that consumers and advertisers are drawn to Google due to its helpfulness, not a lack of alternatives. They've also highlighted ongoing engagement with UK regulators.
Stay tuned for further developments in this heated tale of tech titans and antitrust actions that could reshape the advertising landscape, right before our very eyes!
- The class action suit in the UK against Google includes representatives from thousands of UK businesses, who agreed that Google's alleged monopolistic practices enabled it to overcharge for advertisements from January 2011 to April 2025.
- The allegation makes claim that Google's anti-competitive tactics, such as favoring Apple's pre-installed browser Safari and squashing competition, led to a 90% share of the global search engine market, inflating ad prices by keeping competitors at bay, contributing to the £5 billion damage settlement sought in the lawsuit.
- With an opt-out class action, no UK businesses will miss out on reparations unless they specifically opt out, and the lawsuit potentially has far-reaching consequences for the technology, education-and-self-development, and general-news sectors.
- Google is currently backed by the legal support of Burford Capital, but has previously faced similar litigations and settlements regarding questionable advertising practices, most recently agreeing to pay $100 million to settle a class action lawsuit in the US.
