130,000 UK businesses sue Google over £13.6B in lost ad revenues
(2022/12/01)
- Reference: 1669883413
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/12/01/google_class_action_lawsuit/
- Source link:
Alphabet and its subsidiary Google are facing a £13.6 billion class action lawsuit claiming they abuse their dominant position in online advertising to make billions at the expense of smaller companies in the UK.
The suit was filed in the Competition Appeal tribunal on Tuesday by law firms Geradin Partners and Humphries Kerstetter, representing some 130,000 British online publishers and app businesses.
Google is the biggest digital advertising company in the world, netting revenues of $54.4 billion in its [1]latest Q3 results [PDF]. It acts as a broker, selling space on behalf of third-party websites to advertisers, who have to bid to earn a coveted spot online. The search giant controls up to 90 percent of the market in certain sectors, giving it the power to dictate terms and pricing, Humphries Kerstetter claimed.
[2]
The company's anticompetitive practices, alleged in the lawsuit, have cost smaller businesses – like publishers and online apps selling ad space – up to 40 per cent, the law firm said. The losses incurred from 1 January 2014 to date for the companies in the lawsuit are estimated up to £13.6 billion (about $16.5B).
[3]Android users in 12 US states cleared to sue Google Play
[4]BT performs U-turn, agrees to up wages for 85% of UK staff
[5]Meta scores $200k default win against alleged peddler of Instagram Likes
[6]Google faces fines of up to $25.4b in UK and EU ad tech case
Toby Starr, a partner at Humphries Kerstetter, leading the claim, pointed to similar antitrust probes, accusing Google of abusing its dominant position in online advertising, from the EU.
"Google's misconduct in this matter is well known. The French authorities have [7]fined the firm and multiple investigations are underway across the globe. However, none of these regulatory actions will do anything to compensate the UK publishers of thousands of websites and mobile apps who have lost billions in advertising revenue because of Google's actions. The only way to recoup these losses is through a competition class action," he [8]said in a statement.
[9]
The US Department of Justice also [10]accused Google of "unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets" in a lawsuit in 2021.
A spokesperson from Google called the latest UK class-action lawsuit "speculative and opportunistic" in a statement to Reuters. "Google works constructively with publishers across Europe – our advertising tools, and those of our many adtech competitors, help millions of websites and apps fund their content, and enable businesses of all sizes to effectively reach new customers. These services adapt and evolve in partnership with those same publishers," the spokesperson said.
[11]
The Register has asked Google for comment. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2022Q3_alphabet_earnings_release.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y4iJTXPLr90aKMFdD@2juwAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/29/google_play_store_class_action/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/29/bt_cost_of_living_pay_rise_cwu_strikes/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/28/facebook_holper/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/14/google_cat_eu_case/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/08/google_ad_biz_told_non/
[8] https://www.humphrieskerstetter.com/news/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4iJTXPLr90aKMFdD@2juwAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-monopolist-google-violating-antitrust-laws
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4iJTXPLr90aKMFdD@2juwAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The suit was filed in the Competition Appeal tribunal on Tuesday by law firms Geradin Partners and Humphries Kerstetter, representing some 130,000 British online publishers and app businesses.
Google is the biggest digital advertising company in the world, netting revenues of $54.4 billion in its [1]latest Q3 results [PDF]. It acts as a broker, selling space on behalf of third-party websites to advertisers, who have to bid to earn a coveted spot online. The search giant controls up to 90 percent of the market in certain sectors, giving it the power to dictate terms and pricing, Humphries Kerstetter claimed.
[2]
The company's anticompetitive practices, alleged in the lawsuit, have cost smaller businesses – like publishers and online apps selling ad space – up to 40 per cent, the law firm said. The losses incurred from 1 January 2014 to date for the companies in the lawsuit are estimated up to £13.6 billion (about $16.5B).
[3]Android users in 12 US states cleared to sue Google Play
[4]BT performs U-turn, agrees to up wages for 85% of UK staff
[5]Meta scores $200k default win against alleged peddler of Instagram Likes
[6]Google faces fines of up to $25.4b in UK and EU ad tech case
Toby Starr, a partner at Humphries Kerstetter, leading the claim, pointed to similar antitrust probes, accusing Google of abusing its dominant position in online advertising, from the EU.
"Google's misconduct in this matter is well known. The French authorities have [7]fined the firm and multiple investigations are underway across the globe. However, none of these regulatory actions will do anything to compensate the UK publishers of thousands of websites and mobile apps who have lost billions in advertising revenue because of Google's actions. The only way to recoup these losses is through a competition class action," he [8]said in a statement.
[9]
The US Department of Justice also [10]accused Google of "unlawfully maintaining monopolies through anticompetitive and exclusionary practices in the search and search advertising markets" in a lawsuit in 2021.
A spokesperson from Google called the latest UK class-action lawsuit "speculative and opportunistic" in a statement to Reuters. "Google works constructively with publishers across Europe – our advertising tools, and those of our many adtech competitors, help millions of websites and apps fund their content, and enable businesses of all sizes to effectively reach new customers. These services adapt and evolve in partnership with those same publishers," the spokesperson said.
[11]
The Register has asked Google for comment. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/2022Q3_alphabet_earnings_release.pdf
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y4iJTXPLr90aKMFdD@2juwAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/29/google_play_store_class_action/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/29/bt_cost_of_living_pay_rise_cwu_strikes/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/28/facebook_holper/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/14/google_cat_eu_case/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/08/google_ad_biz_told_non/
[8] https://www.humphrieskerstetter.com/news/
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4iJTXPLr90aKMFdD@2juwAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-monopolist-google-violating-antitrust-laws
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/legal&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y4iJTXPLr90aKMFdD@2juwAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Pop it
b0llchit
Google works constructively with publishers across Europe...
... to extract every last possible penny.
Google has constructed a parallel universe. Stop shopping at that universe is a simple way to let that bubble universe pop.
Google Helping Advertisers
Kit_
We sell advertising space, and use Google's banner publishing software. Google gets absolutely nothing from us for this, because we have sold the space directly to advertisers.
I just wanted to point out the other side of things - that Google has helped us sell advertising without taking anything for it. We also have video advertising options on our site - at at time of writing Google lets us host these videos free of charge on our site with no embedded advertising (I'm referring to the use of Youtube).
That's two highly valuable completely free tools that have helped our business grow.
Re: Google gets absolutely nothing from us for this
Pascal Monett
That's like saying the local drug kingpin gets nothing from you because you send all your customers to him directly.
He's still getting money from you, it's just you're not the one paying.
Not quite.
Alphabet and its subsidiary Google are facing a £13.6 billion class action lawsuit...
No, the law in England and Wales does not have a procedure called class action lawsuits.
Instead they have what is known as a group litigation order.
From Wikipedia "A group litigation order (or GLO) is an order of a court in England and Wales, which permits a number of claims which give rise to common or related issues (of fact or law) to be managed collectively."
A prime example of which is the Horizon case where a group representing ex postmasters sued the Post Office and won comprehensively.
If commenting on a case in a particular jurisdiction it is surely right that the correct terminology is used.
The world does not (yet) operate under the laws and regulations of the US.