Google Faces £5 Billion Class Action Lawsuit In UK Over Alleged Abuse Of ‘Near-Total Dominance’ In Online Search

Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google has been hit with a new class action lawsuit in the UK over alleged abuse of its “near-total dominance” in online search.

The lawsuit was filed by academic Or Brook with the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal, claiming that Google restricted competing search engines using its market dominance, according to a release.

Brook has filed the suit on behalf of U.K.-based organizations, seeking £5 billion (approximately $6.6 billion) in damages. She said that Google has abused its dominance to overcharge advertisers and called for holding the company accountable for its “unlawful” practices.

“Regulators around the world have described Google as a monopoly and securing a spot on Google’s top pages is essential for visibility,” Brook said in a statement.

According to data from Statcounter, an analytics firm, Google Search had a 93% market share in the UK as of March.

The firm's data shows that Google’s market share in the region has remained at almost 90% or above since January 2009.

Rival search engines, such as Microsoft Corp.’s Bing and Yahoo!, had market shares of 4.2% and 1.4%, respectively, as of March.

In September 2024, the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally found that Google used anti-competitive practices in open-display advertising technology.

The CMA said that this could have caused harm to U.K. publishers. It cited its 2019 survey that revealed UK businesses spend £1.8 billion (approximately $2.38 billion) annually on open-display advertising.

“We’ve provisionally found that Google is using its market power to hinder competition when it comes to the ads people see on websites,” said CMA’s Executive Director for Competition Enforcement, Juliette Enser.

Alphabet Inc.’s stock was down 0.7% at the time of writing, amid a broader decline in technology stocks.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index was down 1.6%, while SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was down 0.8%.

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