A massive “ad tech” class action lawsuit has been brought against Google for its technology that powers online advertisements that consumers view in news media.
Attorneys seeking up to £22 billion in damages for publishers throughout Europe assert that the US tech company’s “anti-competitive conduct” deprived the media of revenue.
The California-based corporation is believed to have favored its own advertising services in online advertising, making it more difficult other services to compete.
This pertains to the complicated computational auctions that underpin Google’s online display advertising business, which allegedly resulted in Google favoring its own ad exchange.
In June of last year, the French Competition Authority penalised Google £190 million for abusing its dominating position through its ad tech practices.
Pictured is a sign close to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California (file image)
Now, a claim is being brought with the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, with attorneys stating that it would focus on collecting lost advertising revenue.
Together with litigation law company Humphries Kerstetter, competition law firm Geradin Partners has brought the action in the United Kingdom.
In addition, Geradin Partners and Dutch law firm Stek have brought a collective action on behalf of European Union publishers.
Toby Starr, a partner at Humphries Kerstetter, stated today, “This major action will represent a class of victims of Google’s anti-competitive conduct in ad tech who have collectively lost an estimated £7billion.”
This includes news websites across the nation with substantial daily readerships as well as the thousands of small company owners who rely on advertising revenue, whether from their fishing website, food blog, football fanzine, or other online material they have spent time building and distributing.
Jan Bart van de Hel from Stek stated, in reference to the EU action being taken in the Netherlands: ‘Many publishers have incurred damages as a result of Google’s unlawful acts.
It is crucial to take action against this, not only to ensure that the publishers are fairly reimbursed for their damages, but also to deter Google from engaging in anticompetitive conduct in the future.
Since the French case, both the European Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have began investigating Google’s ad tech conduct.
Damien Geradin of Geradin Partners stated, “Publishers, especially local and national news media that play a crucial role in our society, have been hurt by Google’s anticompetitive conduct for a long time.”
It is time for Google to accept its duties and compensate for the harm it has caused to this vital business. Therefore, we are announcing these cases in two jurisdictions today in order to collect compensation for EU and UK publishers.
In May, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that its investigation would focus on advertising technology intermediation, popularly known as the “ad tech stack.”
Based on statistics from 2019, this group of services facilitates the sale of online advertising space between vendors and purchasers and is estimated to be worth £1.8 billion annually.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that Google has a strong position at multiple levels of this market, providing a vast array of services including platforms where advertisers can purchase online advertising space, technology that automates the sale of advertising space, and services for managing ad inventories for publishers, who choose which ads to display.
Governments throughout the globe are tightening their oversight of the United States’ tech companies, which have grown even more powerful during the pandemic.
Last year, the United Kingdom introduced a new competition law to prevent Google and Facebook from using their power to drive out smaller enterprises and disadvantage consumers.
The CMA now has a separate Digital Markets Unit with the authority to suspend, block, and overturn decisions made by technology companies.
It can also impose monetary penalties for noncompliance, with corporations being instructed to be more transparent about how they utilize consumer data.Google faces a £22bn ‘ad tech’ lawsuit from European publishers.