BRUSSELS, Belgium – A group of 32 media organizations, including major publishers like Axel Springer and Schibsted, filed a 2.1-billion-euro lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google on Wednesday. The lawsuit alleges that the media companies suffered financial losses as a result of Google’s practices in digital advertising. Following the news, Google’s shares experienced a more than 2% drop in value.
The consortium of publishers hails from various European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. They claim that Google’s anti-competitive behavior has led to a less competitive market, resulting in revenue losses for the media companies. The group’s lawyers pointed to previous fines and regulatory actions against Google as evidence to support their claims in this lawsuit.
Analysts predict that if regulatory scrutiny continues, Google may be forced to change its advertising practices and provide more consistent pricing to its advertising customers. The lawsuit comes at a time when Google faces challenges in its core advertising business, particularly from the rise of generative AI chat platforms.
In response to the lawsuit, Google issued a statement opposing the claims, describing them as “speculative and opportunistic.” The tech giant emphasized its efforts to work collaboratively with publishers across Europe and adapt its advertising tools in partnership with them. Google also disagreed with previous EU antitrust charges related to its ad tech business.
The group of publishers chose to file the lawsuit in a Dutch court due to the country’s reputation as a key jurisdiction for antitrust damages claims in Europe. By centralizing their legal action, the publishers aim to avoid multiple claims in different European countries. Other members of the consortium include prominent media organizations from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Spain, and Switzerland.
The ongoing legal battle between the media organizations and Google underscores the challenges faced by publishers worldwide as Big Tech companies dominate the digital advertising landscape. Google, as the leading digital advertising platform globally, continues to face scrutiny and legal actions from various stakeholders in the industry.