Advertisers are coming together to seek payouts from Google’s parent company, Alphabet over search monopoly ruling.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, could be facing damage claims worth billions of dollars as advertisers come together to seek payments through mass arbitration proceedings.
Google’s longstanding battle with the Department of Justice (DOJ) came to a close last year when US District Judge Amit Mehta found the tech giant to hold an illegal monopoly in search and search advertising.
Since the proceedings began in 2024, companies which displayed ads purchased through Google, like Advance Publications Inc. and USA Today Co. have sued for damages, and advertiser contracts with the tech giant now require mandatory arbitration over legal disputes, Bloomberg reports.
It means a mediator must handle legal disputes, which has historically favoured companies in individual claims – but mass arbitrations (those with over 25 claimants against the same company) has provided better results for claimant settlements.
Lawyers have already signed up a significant number of advertisers, who expect to file claims later this week.
Ashley Keller, a lawyer who says he has the mass arbitration cases waiting in the wing, estimates the potential claims for display ads and online search damages could reach over $218bn – based on an economist’s calculation. Although they also estimate that similar mass arbitrations have taken 12-14 months to resolve, according to Bloomberg.
In April 2025, Judge Leonie Brinkema of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Google had an illegal monopoly over online advertising tech. The court found the tech giant’s control over publisher ad servers and ad exchanges broke antitrust laws.
OpenX and Pubmatic are among the adtechs suing Google over its monopoly status.
“This exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google’s publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web,” Brinkema said.
“Two federal judges have already adjudicated Google to be a monopolist,” Keller said in an interview with Bloomberg. “It seems sensible to seek redress.”
Google denies the claims, and is preparing to defend itself against the claimants. A spokesperson told Affiliate Leaders:
“These claims are unfounded. In a highly competitive market, advertisers choose our tools to grow their businesses and reach new customers.”
