Google hit with $2.3 bln lawsuit by Axel Springer, other media groups
28/02/2024 15:00
By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google
was hit with a 2.1-billion-euro ($2.3 billion) lawsuit by 32
media groups including Axel Springer and Schibsted SCHA.OL on
Wednesday, alleging that they had suffered losses due to the
company's practices in digital advertising.
The move by the group which include publishers in Austria,
Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland,
Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and
Sweden comes as antitrust regulators also crack down on Google's
ad tech business.
"The media companies involved have incurred losses due to a
less competitive market, which is a direct result of Google's
misconduct," a statement issued by their lawyers Geradin
Partners and Stek said.
"Without Google's abuse of its dominant position, the media
companies would have received significantly higher revenues from
advertising and paid lower fees for ad tech services. Crucially,
these funds could have been reinvested into strengthening the
European media landscape," the lawyers said.
They cited the French competition authority's
220-million-euro fine against Google on its ad tech business in
2021 as well as the European Commission's charges last year to
buttress their group claim.
Google last year said it disagreed with EU antitrust charges
against its ad tech business where it is involved in both the
buy-side as well as the sell-side of the supply chain.
Publishers around the world have in recent years lamented
Big Tech's increasing dominance in advertising as their share of
revenues fall. Google is the most dominant digital advertising
platform in the world, according to analysts.
The group said they filed the lawsuit in a Dutch court
because of the country's reputation as a key jurisdiction for
antitrust damages claims in Europe, and to avoid multiple claims
in different European countries.
Others in the group include Austria's Krone, Belgian groups
DPG Media and Mediahuis, Denmark's TV2 Danmark A/S, Finland's
Sanoma, Poland's Agora, Spain's Prensa Iberica and Switzerland's
Ringier.
($1 = 0.9247 euros)
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Jason Neely)
((foo.yunchee@thomsonreuters.com; +32 2 585 2866; Reuters
Messaging: foo.yunchee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))