In the wake of a historic ruling in the United States, Google is now facing a massive £7 billion ($8.8 billion) consumer lawsuit in the UK, challenging its dominant position in the search engine and digital advertising markets. This lawsuit comes as part of an intensifying global regulatory crackdown on the tech giant’s anti-competitive practices.
The UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) recently denied Google’s request to dismiss the class-action lawsuit, which claims that the company’s monopoly power allowed it to inflate ad prices for businesses, ultimately passing the costs onto consumers. The lawsuit, initiated by consumer rights advocate Nikki Stopford, represents all UK residents over the age of 16 who made purchases from businesses in the country using Google’s advertising services between January 1, 2011, and September 7, 2023. The opt-out claim automatically includes all affected individuals.
The suit also challenges Google’s business practices related to its mobile operating system. Specifically, it objects to the company’s requirement that Android device manufacturers pre-install Google’s Chrome browser and set Google as the default search engine. Additionally, the lawsuit condemns the lucrative agreements between Google and Apple, which secure Google’s dominance as the default search engine on Apple’s iOS devices.
This UK legal action is part of a broader regulatory push against Google, particularly following a significant European Commission decision in 2018 that imposed a €4.34 billion ($4.5 billion) fine for similar anti-competitive practices. Furthermore, Google is facing a monumental antitrust case in the US, where a judge recently declared the company to be unlawfully monopolistic in the search engine and advertising space.
In a potentially game-changing move, the US Department of Justice has called for stringent remedies, including the divestiture of Google’s Chrome browser, the licensing of its internal data, an end to its search revenue deals with manufacturers, and a provision for publishers to opt-out of using Google’s data for AI model training. If the company fails to appeal or if these measures are deemed inadequate, Google may be forced to sell its Android operating system as well.
Google’s dominance in the search and web browser markets is substantial, with StatCounter data showing the company commanding over 80% of the global search engine market and approximately 60% of the web browser sector. This near-total control has raised concerns among critics and competitors, including smaller search engines like DuckDuckGo, Microsoft’s Bing, and Mozilla’s Firefox, who argue that Google’s position stifles competition and threatens the open web.
In addition to the ongoing UK lawsuit and US case, Google and Apple recently faced scrutiny from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which criticized the companies’ revenue-sharing agreements and their control over mobile web browsers.
As these legal challenges unfold, the outcome of the UK lawsuit and the US regulatory actions could have far-reaching implications not only for Google but for the future of competition in the global tech industry.
References:
- TechSpot, Daniel Sims, Google Faces $9 Billion UK Lawsuit Over Alleged Monopoly Practices, November 2024. Link
- Reuters, Google Faces $9 Billion Lawsuit in UK Over Monopoly Allegations, November 2024. Link
- The Guardian, Google’s Dominance in Search Under Scrutiny in UK and US, October 2024. Link
- Bloomberg, US Antitrust Case Could Force Google to Sell Chrome, Android, November 2024. Link
