By Natalie DeCoste
The owner of online newspaper MailOnline, commonly known as the Daily Mail in the UK, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against tech giant Google.
The lawsuit alleges that Google’s power over selling online ad space means that newspapers see little of the revenue produced by their content. Allegedly, the way that Google controls its search results and advertising auctions harms online publishers.
The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court and stems from the Daily Mail’s concern over the company’s coverage of the U.K.’s royal family in 2021. A spokesperson for the company said it found that its news coverage was played down in Google’s search results.
Specifically, Daily Mail executives have been disappointed that the newspaper’s digital coverage of the royal family had not shown up prominently in search results for keywords about the family, including “Meghan and Harry,” “Piers Morgan,” and “Prince Philip.”
“Google controls the ‘shelf space’ on publishers’ pages where ads appear, and it exploits that control to defeat competition for that ad space. Among other tactics, Google makes it difficult for publishers to compare prices among exchanges; reduces the number of exchanges that can submit bids; and uses bids offered by rival exchanges to set its own bids — a de facto bid-rigging scheme,” the lawsuit states.
Google has faced ongoing scrutiny about its business practices, especially its advertising. In January, the parent company of West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette-Mail filed an antitrust suit against Google and Facebook Inc about search and advertising powers, and several other small publishers on Monday filed lawsuits against the two tech companies, citing a deal between them code-named “Jedi Blue.”
The tech giant is also facing ongoing antitrust lawsuits from the U.S. Justice Department and attorneys general in several states. The DOJ lawsuit alleges that the company engaged in anticompetitive conduct to preserve its monopolies in the search and search-advertising markets that form the cornerstones of its empire.
All the mounting pressure on Google has seen lawmakers take action against the company. In March, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced legislation geared at making it easier for news organizations to collectively negotiate with platforms like Google and Facebook to help boost revenues.
Google has vehemently denied antitrust allegations against it for both the DOJ lawsuits and now has addressed the Daily Mail’s complaint as well.
“The Daily Mail’s claims are completely inaccurate. The use of our ad tech tools has no bearing on how a publisher’s website ranks in Google Search. More generally, we compete in a crowded and competitive ad tech space where publishers have and exercise multiple options,” said a spokesperson for Google in a statement.
While Google denies engaging in anticompetitive behavior, the Daily Mail and the other groups who have alleged antitrust violations are gaining more ground as the lawsuits continue to trickle in.
