Google Faces Multi-billion-pound Class Action From UK Businesses That Were Overcharged For Search Ads

London, 15 April 2025 – A new legal claim worth approximately £5 billion has been filed against Google in the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT). The class action, brought on behalf of hundreds of thousands of UK-based organisations that used Google’s search advertising services, accuses Google of abusing its near-total dominance in the general search market to drive up prices. 

The claim is brought by leading competition law academic Dr Or Brook, who is represented by specialist competition law firm Geradin Partners. 

The claim argues that Google has been shutting out competition in the general search and search advertising markets through anti-competitive conduct which included (among other things):   

The claim argues that Google’s conduct has prevented competitors in the general search market from distributing their own search engines, which has enabled Google to maintain its dominance. By restricting competition in general search, Google has ensured that its own search platform is the only viable means of advertising to the vast majority of consumers, and ensured its dominance in search advertising. The result of this is that Google has been able to charge advertisers more, while reducing the value gained by organisations that use this advertising. 

The class action is seeking compensation on behalf of all UK-based organisations that published Google ads from 1 January 2011 up until when the claim was filed. These organisations will be automatically included in the legal action unless they choose to opt out of the claim. 

Dr Or Brook, commented: 

"Today, UK businesses and organisations, big or small, have almost no choice but to use Google ads to advertise their products and services. Regulators around the world have described Google as a monopoly and securing a spot on Google’s top pages is essential for visibility.  Google has been leveraging its dominance in the general search and search advertising market to overcharge advertisers. 

This class action is about holding Google accountable for its unlawful practices and seeking compensation on behalf of UK advertisers who have been overcharged.” 

Founding Partner of Geradin Partners, Damien Geradin, said 

"Google is one of the most powerful companies in the world. However, through a range of deliberate and exclusionary practices, it has sought to eliminate its rivals and dominate the search advertising market, ultimately overcharging UK advertisers by billions of pounds. 

This is the first claim of its kind in the UK that seeks redress for the harm caused specifically to businesses who have been forced to pay inflated prices for advertising space on Google pages. 

We are fully committed to holding Google accountable and securing fair compensation for affected organisations and businesses.” 

More information on the claim and regular updates for the proposed class can be found at: https://searchadvertisersclaim.co.uk/  

Google’s market dominance and how its conduct punishes UK advertisers 

Google is one of the largest companies in the world. Its revenue in 2024 reached a historic $350 billion. The UK’s competition regulator has previously found that 90% of all revenue in the search advertising market was earned by Google. 

Through its anti-competitive conduct, Google has established a near-total dominance on the general search market, giving UK-based organisations no option but to advertise on Google if they want to reach consumers. This in turn allows Google to charge UK advertisers more for search advertising than they would in a competitive market. A dataset provided by Google to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority in 2019 indicated that there are approximately 200,000-250,000 unique advertisers who used Google’s advertising sales interface, Google Ads. 

Small businesses in the UK paying for Google ads hit hardest 

While Google is breaking its own financial success, more businesses in the UK are closing down than starting up for the first time in a decade. The operating environment for small advertisers is incredibly tough and higher advertising costs is one financial burden among many.  The price of Google ads for advertisers around the world has soared. Small UK businesses that can’t keep up with the rising cost of advertising on Google, and therefore are unable to reach customers, may well be squeezed out of the market.  

Legal proceedings and regulatory investigations against Google for its search advertising conduct  

Google’s dominance and anticompetitive practices in the search advertising market have been recognised and continue to be investigated in multiple jurisdictions, including in the US, EU, and UK.