Google Ad Tech Class Action Gets Go Ahead From London Judges

A class action lawsuit against Google, potentially seeking billions of pounds in damages, can proceed in the UK over allegations the US giant abused its dominance in digital advertising.

The UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal unanimously allowed the collective proceedings against the firm, in a suit filed by lawyers representing thousands of businesses, to move forward on Wednesday.

Should the claimants prove that the Alphabet Inc. unit preferred its online advertising services over competitors between January 2014 and November 2022 they estimate damages as high as £13.6 billion ($17.4 billion).

Google’s powerful ad tech business has borne the brunt of regulator scrutiny in recent years. It has vowed to fight the European Union’s threat to break it up, while France fined it €150 million ($163 million) in 2022 over the online platform.

The ruling “is a first step in delivering proper compensation to Google’s victims,” lawyers representing Ad Tech said.

The suit is known as an opt-out class-action, which means someone impacted doesn’t have to be involved in the case to be included or to get a share in any eventual award.

The lawsuit is speculative and opportunistic, Google’s legal director Oliver Bethell said in an emailed statement. “We’ll oppose it vigorously and on the facts.”

Top photo: A woman holds an iPhone in front of an iMac with the Google search page displayed in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on Friday, January 22, 2021. Photographer: David Gray/Bloomberg.