Google faces £5bn UK lawsuit over search market dominance

A lawsuit has been filed against Google alleging dominance in the search market. (Photo: Thaspol Sangsee/ Shutterstock)

Google is facing a lawsuit in the UK, potentially amounting to £5bn, over allegations of abusing its dominant position in the online search market. Or Brook Class Representative, led by competition law academic Dr Or Brook, filed the class action at the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The legal team comprises experts from Geradin Partners and a counsel team specialising in competition litigation and digital markets.

The lawsuit accuses Google of compelling mobile phone manufacturers and network operators to pre-install Google Search and Chrome on Android devices. Additionally, it alleges Google paid Apple substantial sums to ensure Google remains the default search engine on Safari, Apple’s pre-installed browser. These practices allegedly secure Google’s default status, hindering competitors in the general search and search advertising sectors. Consequently, the lawsuit claims these tactics inflated search advertising prices, resulting in financial losses for advertisers.

UK businesses automatically included in class action for compensation

Dr Brook’s legal action aims to secure compensation for UK businesses that have purchased advertising space on Google search pages since 1 January 2011. Businesses will be automatically included in the claim unless they opt out.

The Competition and Markets Authority previously noted that Google’s services, accounting for 90% of searches, are crucial for millions of users and over 200,000 UK businesses advertising through the platform.

“Today, UK businesses and organisations, big or small, have almost no choice but to use Google ads to advertise their products and services,” said Dr Or Brook, representing all affected advertisers. “Regulators around the world have described Google as a monopoly, and 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. This class action is about holding Google accountable for its unlawful practices and seeking compensation on behalf of UK advertisers who have been overcharged.”

In a separate development, Google’s 2024 Ads Safety Report reveals the company blocked 5.1 billion ads and suspended over 39.2 million advertiser accounts in 2024. Google attributes this increased enforcement to rising threats from AI-generated content, impersonation scams, and misuse of its ad platform.

The report highlights the use of generative AI tools for creating deepfake video impersonations of celebrities and public figures, leading to scams. Consequently, Google permanently suspended more than 700,000 advertiser accounts for policy violations related to AI-driven impersonation scams.

“To fight back, we quickly assembled a dedicated team of over 100 experts to analyse these scams and develop effective countermeasures, such as updating our Misrepresentation policy to suspend advertisers that promote these scams,” explains Google’s report.

“As a result, we were able to permanently suspend over 700,000 offending advertiser accounts. This led to a 90% drop in reports of this kind of scam ad last year. While we are encouraged by this progress, we continue to work to prevent these scams.”

Read more: UK CMA launches probe into Google’s search and advertising dominance