A class action lawsuit has been filed in the UK against Google, accused of abusing its dominant position to exclude competitors in online advertising, thus charging businesses using its service higher fees. This procedure, announced Wednesday by the law firm Geradin Partner, has been filed with the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which handles competition cases.

It is filed 'on behalf of hundreds of thousands' of British businesses and organizations that have paid to be better referenced in Google results since 2011. 'This is another opportunistic case based on speculation—and we will vigorously oppose it,' a Google spokesperson told AFP.

The plaintiffs argue that Google ensured it was "the only viable way to advertise" on the search engine, allowing it to "charge advertisers higher prices." They highlight, for example, that the tech giant ensures its search service and Chrome browser are pre-installed on phones. It also pays billions to Apple to remain the default search engine for the Safari browser.

Another £7 billion class action lawsuit had been filed on a similar basis in 2023, aiming to compensate British consumers who may have been affected by these higher advertising costs. Then in 2024, a £13.6 billion procedure was launched, this time for content publishers who might have received lower advertising revenues due to Google's alleged dominant position in online advertising on their sites.

The UK's competition authority, the CMA, launched an investigation in January into Google's search engine, which could lead to the U.S. giant being designated as a "strategic market actor," a status that would impose particular requirements on it under a new digital regime since Jan. 1.

This UK regime is similar to the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which a handful of tech giants, including Apple, Google, and Meta, must comply with, aiming to end their abuse of dominant positions. According to the CMA, which is set to issue its decision in October, '90% of searches are conducted' on Google's search engine and 'more than 200,000 British businesses advertise on it.'