Google faces $5.6 billion lawsuit over blocking rivals in search results

Google is being sued for £5 billion, or $6.6 billion, in the U.K. over claims it blocked out search engine competitors to trap advertisers in its system and charge them more for ads.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal, targeting the company’s actions from January 1, 2011, up to the date of the filing. It accuses Google of using its dominance in online search to push out other platforms and secure a monopoly on search ads.

The claim is being brought by Or Brook, a law academic, on behalf of hundreds of thousands of organizations across the U.K. that depended on Google’s advertising services during that time.

The complaint was launched with backing from law firm Geradin Partners, and it’s aiming for compensation on behalf of every advertiser who Brook says was overcharged because of Google’s strategy. In her words:

“Today, UK businesses and organizations, big or small, have almost no choice but to use Google ads to advertise their products and services.”

Brook said the case is not about breaking new ground, but about holding a company accountable for what’s already been happening for years.

“Google has been leveraging its dominance in the general search and search advertising market to overcharge advertisers,” Brook added. “This class action is about holding Google accountable for its unlawful practices and seeking compensation on behalf of UK advertisers who have been overcharged.”

Google doesn’t agree with any of this. The company responded by calling the case “yet another speculative and opportunistic case” and said it’s ready to fight. A spokesperson reportedly told CNBC that people and businesses use Google because “it’s helpful, not because there are no alternatives.”

Lawsuit exposes secret deals and ad tool advantages

The case doesn’t just focus on price gouging. Brook’s team claims Google made secret deals to box out the competition before users even opened a browser. They point to contracts with Android smartphone makers, where Google Search and Chrome were pre-installed by default.

Google reportedly also paid Apple billions to guarantee that Google Search would be the only engine on Safari for iPhone and Mac users. The lawsuit also attacks the way Google designed its Search Ads 360 product. That’s the platform advertisers use to manage their ad campaigns across multiple search engines.

But Brook argues that the tool gives way more features and better performance when used with Google’s own ad services, making it harder for advertisers to consider alternatives like Microsoft’s Bing or other rivals.

Google’s grip on the market was already well documented. In 2020, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released findings showing that Google earned 90% of the revenue in the U.K. search ad market, which helped the legal team build a stronger case.

This new lawsuit adds to a growing pile of legal problems for Big Tech companies. In 2018, the European Union fined Google €4.3 billion, or $4.9 billion, for pushing phone manufacturers to pre-load Chrome and Search together with the Play Store. That antitrust penalty is still under appeal seven years later, but it adds more weight to the U.K. complaint by showing a long-running pattern.

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