^{Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. | Hardik Chhabra/ The India Today Group via Getty Images}

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Google is confronting a landmark £5 billion ($6.6 billion) class-action lawsuit in the United Kingdom, alleging that the company exploited its dominant position in the online search market to inflate advertising costs for businesses. The legal action, filed in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, is spearheaded by competition law expert Dr. Or Brook, representing hundreds of thousands of UK-based organizations that utilized Google's search advertising services from January 1, 2011, to the present.​

Allegations of Anti-Competitive Practices

The lawsuit contends that Google engaged in anti-competitive behavior by:​

• Mandating smartphone manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome browsers as a prerequisite for accessing the Google Play Store.​
• Entering into agreements with Apple and other companies to make Google the default search engine on their devices, thereby limiting consumer choice.​
• Designing its Search Ads 360 tool to function optimally with Google's own advertising products, disadvantaging competitors.​

Dr. Brook asserts that these practices have left UK businesses with little alternative but to rely on Google's advertising services, often at inflated costs.​

Regulatory Scrutiny and Historical Context

This lawsuit is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of regulatory scrutiny faced by Google and other tech giants:​

• In 2018, the European Commission fined Google €4.34 billion ($5 billion) for abusing its dominance in the Android operating system market. The Commission found that Google required manufacturers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome and prevented them from selling devices with alternative versions of Android. ​
• The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reported in 2020 that Google accounted for over 90% of the UK's search advertising market revenue, highlighting the company's substantial market control.​

Broader Implications for Big Tech

The legal challenges faced by Google are emblematic of a wider reckoning for major technology firms:​

• Meta Platforms Inc. is currently undergoing a significant antitrust trial in Washington, D.C., with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) seeking to reverse its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The FTC alleges that Meta employed a "buy or bury" strategy to eliminate competition and maintain its social media monopoly.
• In the UK, the CMA has initiated an investigation into the cloud computing market, focusing on Amazon and Microsoft. The probe aims to assess whether these companies have engaged in practices that stifle competition in the cloud services sector.​
• Additionally, Microsoft faces a £1 billion lawsuit in the UK over allegations of overcharging customers of rival cloud companies, further illustrating the intensified scrutiny on tech giants' business practices.​

Google's Response and Potential Outcomes

As of now, Google has not publicly responded to the UK lawsuit. Should the tribunal rule against the company, it could be compelled to compensate affected UK businesses, potentially reshaping the landscape of digital advertising and competition law enforcement.

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