Google is facing a legal challenge in the UK over allegations it abused its market dominance in online search advertising, with a claim seeking £25 billion in damages.
The lawsuit, filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, accuses Google of anticompetitive practices through its agreements with mobile device manufacturers, which make Google Search the default search engine. This, it is claimed, has led to inflated prices for advertisers in the UK.
Roger Kaye KC, a former deputy High Court judge, is leading the claim, which estimates that between 500,000 and 1.5 million UK advertisers have been affected by Google's actions, resulting in "excessive and unfair prices".
The claim seeks compensation for all advertisers who paid Google for search advertising from 1 January 2011, with the total compensation potentially reaching £25 billion.
The claim argues that Google’s agreements with phone manufacturers and network operators to make Google’s search engine the default option on their products meant it has been able to maintain a significant degree of domination in the search market, and as a result charge higher prices.
The US tech giant is already facing a similar legal claim at CAT over its search advertising business, and a judge in the US ruled last year that it is running a monopoly in search.
The company is now fighting proposals that it could be required to break up its digital empire and sell off parts of its business, such as its Chrome web browser, as part of the remedies in that case.
Mr Kaye said: “This case marks a significant step in re-establishing a fair and competitive landscape for all advertisers.
“Monopolising the advertising space to the point of abuse cannot continue.”
Duncan Hedar, head of competition at KP Law, which is representing Mr Kaye, said: “In contrast to previous cases filed in the UK, Mr Kaye KC seeks to take the action one step further by rightly compensating the vast number of businesses who’ve had to suffer the imposition of Google’s abuse of power.
“The unlawful conduct has already been proven by both the European Commission and a US court, and it is time that all affected UK advertisers are duly compensated for the financial repercussions to their business.”
A Google spokesperson said: “These types of meritless claims are brought by lawyers seeking profit and bring little-to-no benefit to those they represent.
“Consumers and advertisers use Google because it’s helpful, not because there are no alternatives.”
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