Google Faces UK Class Action From Businesses Over Online Search Dominance

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has been hit by a fresh class action lawsuit in the U.K. alleging that the U.S. tech giant abused its “near-total dominance” in online search to overcharge hundreds of thousands of firms for digital ads.

Google owes money to all U.K. based firms that used its advertising services after 2011 as it drove up their cost by shutting out competition and prioritizing its own offering, according to the lawsuit filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Or Brook, a competition law academic, filed the suit as the class representative, and her lawyers estimate the compensation could be worth as much as £5 billion ($6.6 billion). The claim still needs to be approved as a class action by a London judge to move forward.

“This is yet another speculative and opportunistic case and we will argue against it vigorously,” a spokesperson for Google said. “Consumers and advertisers use Google because it’s helpful, not because there are no alternatives,” the spokesperson said.

The lawsuit adds to the increasing number of class actions against big tech companies in the U.K. It comes as Google already faces possible harsh remedies in the US for its monopolization of search and ad markets.

“This is the first claim of its kind in the U.K. that seeks redress for the harm caused specifically to businesses who have been forced to pay inflated prices,” Brook’s lawyer Damien Geradin said. Litigation funder Burford Capital will fund the claim.

Google ensured its dominance in search advertising by restricting competition in online search and making its platform “the only viable means of advertising to the vast majority of consumers,” according to Brook.

Google is facing multiple class actions in the UK including one alleging that online shoppers bear the cost of its high advertising charges and another accusing the tech firm of charging excessive commissions from app developers. Google denies the allegations.

While the antitrust tribunal will hear the lawsuits, the Competition and Markets Authority earlier this year embarked on separate investigations to decide whether Google must be designated with so-called strategic market status in search and mobile ecosystem markets under tougher rules for digital companies.