Google Faces $6.6B U.K. Lawsuit Over Alleged Search Monopoly Abuse

Google is confronting a significant legal challenge in the United Kingdom.

A £5 billion ($6.6 billion) class action lawsuit was filed on Tuesday against the tech giant for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the online search market.

The lawsuit, initiated by competition law expert Or Brook, accuses Google of engaging in anti-competitive practices that have inflated advertising costs and stifled competition.​

Filed with the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal, the suit claims that Google leveraged its market dominance to restrict rival search engines and manipulate advertising prices.

Specifically, it alleges that Google entered into agreements with device manufacturers to pre-install its search engine and Chrome browser on Android devices.

Another major accusation is that the Alphabet-owned company paid Apple to make Google the default search engine on iPhones.

These actions purportedly limited consumer choice and forced businesses to rely heavily on Google's advertising services.​

Some in the industry argue the real problem wasn’t just Google’s power, but that too many brands saw SEO as platform-specific instead of audience-driven.

"Human beings have always searched. And as long as there’s something to seek, there will be a need for SEO. It’s not about Google. It’s about showing up where discovery happens. That could be Bing, DuckDuckGo, Reddit, TikTok, or whatever comes next," Houston Barnett-Gearhardt, SEO Director at Victorious, said.

"So when we talk about SEO diversification, let’s not reduce it to optimizing meta tags for Bing. The better question is: Where does my audience actually hang out? Because unless Bing or DuckDuckGo is part of that answer, you’re just chasing noise.

Brands that root their organic strategy in real audience understanding will weather any platform shift. The ones who don’t? They weren’t investing in search as a discipline. They were optimizing for a single tool."

The lawsuit comes after a U.S. federal judge ruled in 2024 that it broke antitrust laws by using its market power to unfairly maintain control over search and digital advertising.

Wow. Google loses its antitrust case in a HUGE way

Google created an illegal monopoly in both 1) search and 2) advertising through "exclusive distribution agreements"

So what's next?

Google's default deals with Apple, Mozilla, and Android manufacturers could all be at risk 😲 pic.twitter.com/1NWmi2lVpc

— Cyrus (@CyrusShepard) August 5, 2024

In this latest lawsuit, Brook asserts that U.K. businesses had "almost no choice but to use Google ads to advertise their products and services," leading to overcharges and reduced market competition.

"We have now filed the first collective action of its kind in the UK that seeks redress for the direct harm caused to businesses (rather than consumers) who have been forced to pay sub-competitive prices for advertising space on Google pages," Brook wrote on a LinkedIn post.

The legal action aims to secure financial compensation for U.K.-based businesses that used Google's search advertising services from January 1, 2011.

A spokesperson for Google has dismissed the lawsuit as "yet another speculative and opportunistic case," stating that it plans to "argue against it vigorously."

A company spokesperson emphasized that "consumers and advertisers use Google because it is helpful, not because there are no alternatives."​

Regulatory Scrutiny Intensifies

The class action lawsuit coincides with an ongoing investigation by the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into Google's search and advertising practices.

The CMA is examining whether Google holds "strategic market status" under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which could lead to the imposition of conduct requirements to ensure fair competition.​

The regulator is also assessing whether Google's practices, such as the collection of consumer data without informed consent and preferential treatment of its own services, are detrimental to market fairness.​

"Millions of people and businesses across the UK rely on Google’s search and advertising services — with 90 per cent of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there.

That’s why it’s so important to ensure these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses and that there is a level playing field, especially as AI has the potential to transform search services," CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said in a statement.

We’ve launched our first SMS investigation to determine if Google has strategic market status in its general search and search advertising activities: https://t.co/VahPAYre7ypic.twitter.com/JWWGQylWWk

— Competition & Markets Authority (@CMAgovUK) January 14, 2025

Brook's lawsuit adds to the mounting legal challenges Google faces worldwide.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed antitrust lawsuits against Google, outlining key actions, which include selling Chrome, to address the company's alleged monopolistic behavior.

Similarly, the EU has imposed fines and is conducting investigations into Google's market practices as part of its enforcement of the Digital Markets Act.

If this U.K. lawsuit succeeds, it could set a precedent for holding tech giants accountable for anti-competitive behavior, driving legal uncertainty for major firms.

For marketers, increased regulation of Google could lead to greater diversification in SEO strategies, reducing overreliance on one dominant platform.

"If Google loses its grip, good SEO doesn’t go away. It just gets rebalanced," Barnett-Gearhardt added.

"The fundamentals don’t change. Understand your audience deeply. Create content that speaks to them clearly. Then tailor that content to how each discovery system works. That’s not diversification. That’s just good marketing."

The antitrust momentum may also accelerate innovation in adtech, as brands look for alternatives that offer more transparency, control, and pricing flexibility.