Google urges UK tribunal to dismiss mass lawsuit over alleged online ad dominance
Claims are 'incoherent,' argue the company's lawyers
Google parent Alphabet has urged the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in London to dismiss a mass lawsuit that accuses the company of abusing its dominance in the online advertising market.
The lawsuit was filed by Ad Tech Collective Action in November 2022 on behalf of a consortium of UK publishers, seeking £13.6 billion in damages for alleged anticompetitive behaviour.
The Ad Tech Collective Action argued that Google's dominance in the online advertising sector has resulted in financial losses for publishers. Its lawyers urged CAT to approve the case for a full trial during a three-day hearing that began on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
However, Google is fiercely contesting these allegations. The company's lawyers argued that the claims are "incoherent" and lack evidence of financial harm to publishers. They urged the CAT to dismiss the case entirely.
Ad Tech Collective Action's lawyer, Robert O'Donoghue, said the lawsuit was "the latest in a series of major set-preferencing abuse cases involving Google".
O'Donoghue also pointed to multi-billion euro fines previously imposed by the European Commission on Google for anti-competitive practices related to their online shopping search service and the mandatory pre-installation of Google Search and Chrome browser on Android devices.
Google denies any wrongdoing, claiming that its role in the ad tech industry has actually fostered competition.
"Google's impact in the ad tech industry has been hugely precompetitive," Google lawyers stated in the court documents.
The CAT has already certified similar lawsuits against other tech giants this year, with a $3.8 billion case against Meta and a nearly $1 billion case against Apple.
Google is also embroiled in a legal battle with the US government over accusations of anticompetitive practices in the online ad market.
Last month, the company filed a motion in a Virginia federal court seeking dismissal of the lawsuit brought by the Justice Department (DOJ) in January 2023. The DOJ alleges that the tech giant abuses its dominance, particularly through its ad manager suite, to stifle competition. It has called for Google to be forced to sell this crucial component of its advertising network.
In March 2023, Google faced a legal challenge in the UK, seeking £3.4 billion in compensation from publishers for lost revenue. Filed by former Guardian technology editor Charles Arthur, the lawsuit accused the company of unfairly leveraging its position to diminish publishers' earnings.
In 2021, French competition regulator fined Google €220 million for unfairly favouring its own services in the online advertising realm.