ublishers sue Google over $4.2 billion in lost advertising revenue //
A new lawsuit claims that Google has abused its position in display advertising and seeks damages of PS3.4 billion ($4.2B) for all UK publishers.
A larger picture. Google faces similar scrutiny in the U.S. In an attempt to disable its ads division, the Department of Justice and eight other states sued Google. Google had offered to restructure its adtech business in an effort to avoid this. Google offered to display ad rivals YouTube due to EU scrutiny.
Why do we care? The outcome of ongoing antitrust investigations and lawsuits could result in significant changes for online advertisers. This could impact publishers (ad revenue), and advertisers (reach). We will keep an eye on these developments.
The lawsuit. It was brought by Charles Arthur, a journalist and former technology editor at The Guardian in the UK. He filed it on behalf all UK publishers of apps and websites that are subject to the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal. The following is the issue:
Charles alleges that Google violated the competition law by abusing their dominant position in online advertisement through Google. For example, it gives preferential treatment to its own products (e.g. Google Ad Manager. Google Ad Manager.
– FAQ, Google Ad Claim.
Google’s response. According to the BBC , the company described the lawsuit as “speculative” and “opportunistic.” It also stated that many of its adtech rivals help websites and apps finance their content and allow businesses of all sizes and reach new customers.
This was the second such suit. Claudio Pollack, director of Ofcom, filed a similar lawsuit in November 2022, seeking damages up to PS13.6bn.
Opt out. Both of these lawsuits constitute collective claims (the equivalent to a U.S. Class Action lawsuit), so “both legal claims ask for the court – The Competition Appeal Tribunal – to certify their claims as opt-out”, which means that every relevant publisher would automatically be included in the case, unless they decide otherwise,” according the BBC.
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