Google to face massive UK class action lawsuit over search dominance

Google must face a £7 billion (around $8.8 billion) class action lawsuit in the UK that accuses the company of harming consumers by abusing its dominance in search. On Friday, the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled that the case can move forward, adding to the growing number of legal conflicts Google has to confront worldwide.

The class action case was initially filed in September 2023 by consumer rights advocate Nikki Stopford. It alleges that Google’s anticompetitive practices made it more expensive for companies to advertise on the platform, leading to higher prices for millions of consumers across the UK.

The lawsuit argues that Google “forced” Android phone makers to ship their phones with Google Search and Google Chrome, something the European Union has already gone after Google for. It also says Google paid Apple “billions” to make Google the default search engine on Safari — an issue that figured prominently in a recent ruling against Google in the US.

“Google continues to rig the search-engine market to charge advertisers more, which raises the prices they charge consumers,” Stopford said in a statement. “This UK legal action seeks to promote healthier competition in digital markets, and to hold Google accountable.”

Google asked a London tribunal to toss out the lawsuit in September, but the CAT now unanimously agreed that it should proceed. “We still believe this case is speculative and opportunistic — we will argue against it vigorously,” Paul Colpitts, Google UK’s senior counsel, said in an emailed statement to The Verge. “People use Google because it is helpful; not because there are no alternatives.”

Google is currently the subject of several lawsuits, including one from the US Department of Justice that could force Google to sell Chrome. In addition to lawsuits from Epic Games and Yelp, the search giant is facing more legal trouble from the DOJ over its advertising technology. It also recently lost an appeal to get around a $2.7 billion antitrust fine in the EU.

Update, November 25th: Added a statement from Google.