A group action was launched in the United Kingdom against Google, accused of having abused their dominant position to exclude competitors in online advertising and, therefore, bill their most expensive service for companies that use it.
This procedure, announced on Wednesday by the partner of the Geradin Cabinet, was presented to the competence of the Appal court, in charge of competence matters. It is “in the name of hundreds of thousands” of British companies and organizations that have paid to be better referenced in Google’s results since 2011.
Google, “the only viable way to announce”
The plaintiffs argue that Google has ensured to be “the only viable way of announcing” in the search engine, which would allow him to “invoice the higher prices advertisers.”
They emphasize that the technological giant ensures that its research service and its chrome browser are pre -installed on the phones. It also pays thousands of millions to Apple to remain the predetermined search engine of the safari browser.
Another group action with 7 billion pounds had been presented similarly in 2023, to compensate British consumers in which these largest advertising costs would be transmitted. Then, in 2024, a procedure of 13.6 billion was launched, this time for content editors, which may have received lower advertising income due to the supposed dominant Google position in online advertising on their sites.
The British competition authority, the CMA launched in January a survey on the Google search engine, which could lead to the designation of the US giant as “strategic company in the market”, a state that would impose specific requirements under a new digital regime since January 1.
This British regime is similar to the regulations of the digital market (“Digital Markets Law”, DMA) of the European Union, which must respect a handful of technologies of which Apple, Google and Meta, which intends to end its dominant position abuse.
According to the CMA, which will make its decision in October, “90% of the investigation is carried out” in the Google search engine and “more than 200,000 British companies announce it.”
Source: BFM TV
