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<\/div>\nGoogle parent Alphabet has urged a London tribunal to block a mass lawsuit which accuses it of abusing its dominance in the online advertising market, in the latest case to focus on the search giant\u2019s business practices.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit seeks damages of up to 13.6 billion pounds ($16.9 billion) on behalf of publishers of websites and apps based in the United Kingdom, who say they have suffered losses due to Google\u2019s allegedly anticompetitive behavior.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for Ad Tech Collective Action asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) to certify the case to proceed towards a trial at the start of a three-day hearing on Wednesday [May 8].<\/p>\n
Google Faces EU Antitrust Charges Over its Adtech Business<\/a><\/p>\n Google, however, said the case was incoherent and did not explain how alleged anticompetitive conduct had supposedly caused losses to the publishers.<\/p>\n Ad Tech Collective Action\u2019s lawyer Robert O\u2019Donoghue said the London lawsuit was \u201cthe latest in a series of major set-preferencing abuse cases involving Google.\u201d<\/p>\n The case comes amid ongoing probes by regulators into Google\u2019s adtech business, including by Britain\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission, which O\u2019Donoghue said was concluding imminently.<\/p>\n O\u2019Donoghue also referred to two multibillion-euro fines levied on Google by the European Commission, over its online shopping search service and the requirement to pre-install Google Search and its Chrome browser on Android mobile devices.<\/p>\n Google is also fighting two lawsuits in the U.S., one brought by the Department of Justice and another by Texas and other states, accusing the company of anticompetitive conduct.<\/p>\n The company \u201cstrongly rejects the underlying allegations against it,\u201d its lawyers said in court documents for the CAT case. \u201cGoogle\u2019s impact in the ad tech industry has been hugely procompetitive.\u201d<\/p>\n Ad Tech Collective Action\u2019s proposed lawsuit is the latest against a tech giant at the CAT, which already this year has certified a $3.8 billion case against Facebook parent Meta and a nearly $1 billion case against Apple.<\/p>\n (Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Mark Potter)<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong><\/p>\n Topics<\/span> Lawsuits<\/a> Google<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Was this article valuable?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n