KUALA LUMPUR – Google is facing a £5 billion (RM29.16 billion) suit in the United Kingdom over allegations that it abused its dominance in the online search market to inflate advertising costs for hundreds of thousands of British businesses.
The class action suit, filed in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal this week, accuses the US tech giant of shutting out competitors to make itself the only viable platform for online search advertising, UK media reported.
The claim, spearheaded by competition law expert Or Brook and backed by litigation funder Burford Capital, seeks redress for businesses that used Google’s search advertising services since 2011.
“This is the first claim of its kind in the UK that seeks redress for the harm caused specifically to businesses who have been forced to pay inflated prices,” said Brook’s lawyer, Damien Geradin, according to Bloomberg.
Brook, who filed the case on behalf of hundreds of thousands of UK-based businesses, argued that Google’s anti-competitive behaviour left companies with “almost no choice” but to advertise through its platform.
“Regulators around the world have described Google as a monopoly,” she said in a statement.
“Securing a spot on Google’s top pages is essential for visibility. Google has been leveraging its dominance in the general search and search advertising market to overcharge advertisers.”
The suit claims that Google maintained and strengthened its dominance by making deals with smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and the Chrome browser on Android devices.
Google also face allegations that it paid Apple billions of dollars to ensure that its search engine remained the default option in the Safari browser, significantly reducing visibility and market share for competing services.
Additionally, the suit alleges that Google manipulated its own advertising technologies to favour its products. Specifically, its ad management tool – Search Ads 360 – is said to offer better functionality and more features when used with Google’s own services, disadvantaging advertisers who might consider rival platforms.
These strategies, the claim argues, left advertisers with no meaningful alternatives and allowed Google to charge more for its services than it could in a competitive market.
“This is yet another speculative and opportunistic case,” a Google spokesperson said in response, according to reports.
“We will argue against it vigorously. Consumers and advertisers use Google because it is helpful, not because there are no alternatives.”
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also been scrutinising the tech giant’s market power.
In January, it launched investigations into both Google and Apple, citing concerns that their mobile ecosystems – comprising operating systems, browsers, and app stores – may be restricting competition. The CMA said that virtually all mobile devices sold in the UK run on iOS or Android, giving Google and Apple significant control over user experience and commercial access.
According to CNBC, a 2020 CMA study found that Google earned 90% of all revenue in the UK search advertising market and was used by more than 200,000 UK businesses to reach customers.
If approved by a judge, this case could join a growing number of class actions against tech giants in Britain. Google is already facing other UK suits, including one over high commissions charged to app developers and another over inflated costs passed on to consumers through its advertising model. – April 17, 2025