A UK antitrust tribunal on Wednesday ruled that Google must face a collective legal action filed on behalf of hundreds of thousands of businesses in the United Kingdom that allege they were overcharged for online advertising.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal turned down Google's effort to block the claim. The businesses' lawsuit accuses Google of abusing its dominant market positions in several areas - specifically mobile operating systems, app distribution and search advertising.
In its decision the tribunal found that the proposed collective proceedings satisfy the eligibility condition necessary for the case to proceed. Under the mechanism approved by the tribunal, eligible UK firms will be included automatically in the collective claim unless they decide to opt out.
The class representative, Or Brook, a competition law academic, provided an estimate for the number of businesses covered by the action. Brook put the figure at approximately 880,000 firms. The claim seeks damages of up to 5 billion, which the filing converts to about $6.7 billion.
The tribunal's ruling permits the case to advance to a full trial on its merits at a later date. The court's determination to allow the collective claim to proceed does not amount to a finding that Google has violated competition law - it establishes only that the legal conditions to bring the collective proceedings have been met.
Summary of the ruling and next steps:
- The tribunal rejected Google's request to block the collective claim.
- The proposed proceedings meet the statutory eligibility condition and may include eligible firms automatically unless they opt out.
- The case will move toward a trial on the merits at a later stage; no determination of illegality was made in this ruling.
The decision formalises the collective vehicle for the alleged victims to pursue their damages claim, while leaving open the central factual and legal questions for later judicial consideration. The tribunal's approval of the eligibility condition is procedural in nature and frames the pathway for a contested trial rather than resolving the core allegations at this stage.