Google, a part of Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOG, is confronted with a £5 billion ($6.6 billion) class action lawsuit in the U.K. The company is accused of exploiting its dominant market position in the online search industry.
What Happened: The lawsuit was lodged at the Competition Appeal Tribunal earlier this week. The claimants contend that Google’s practices allowed it to inflate the prices for advertisements displayed in search inquiries, beyond what a competitive market would allow, Reuters reported.
The lawsuit states that Google entered into agreements with phone manufacturers to have Google Search and the Chrome browser pre-installed on Android devices. It also states that Google paid Apple Inc. AAPL to make Google the default search engine on iPhones, in a bid to suppress competition.
The claim, submitted by competition law expert Or Brook on behalf of thousands of businesses, asserts that Google gave its own advertising services an unfair advantage by equipping its search engine with superior functionality and additional features compared to those of its competitors.
Google has dismissed the lawsuit as “yet another speculative and opportunistic case,” pledging to “argue against it vigorously.” Brook, however, insists that businesses had little option but to use Google ads, labeling Google as a monopoly and emphasizing that securing a spot on Google’s top pages is crucial for visibility.
Why It Matters: In 2020, a market study conducted by the U.K.'s competition regulator revealed that Google earned 90% of the total revenue in the search advertising market.
This lawsuit follows a report from January 2025, which revealed that Google was under investigation by UK officials over its search dominance. The Competition and Markets Authority expressed concerns about how Google’s dominant position in search could impact competition in the UK.
Notably, the Sundar Pichai-led company is still appealing an antitrust penalty of €4.3 billion ($4.9 billion) fine imposed by the European Union for exploiting the dominance of its Android mobile operating system by requiring smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Chrome and Search alongside its Play app store.
The current lawsuit seems to be a continuation of these concerns, with businesses now taking legal action against the tech giant’s alleged anti-competitive practices.
Google’s lawsuit comes at a time when another tech giant, Meta Platforms META, is facing a landmark trial in court by the Federal Trade Commission, which could eventually compel the social media giant to divest its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.
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