32 media groups in 13 countries are suing Google – 2024-03-02 13:31:31

32 media groups from 13 European countries filed a lawsuit against Google, the world’s most popular search engine and multinational technology company, seeking $2.3 billion in compensation. The case was filed in the European Union (EU) court in Brussels, the capital of Belgium on Wednesday (February 28) alleging that the digital advertising sector is suffering massive losses due to Google.

According to international media reports, the sued media are from Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden. Two of Europe’s leading law firms, Geradine Partners and Stake, are the defendants in the case.

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In a statement, Geradine Partners and Stake said that Google has a large influence around the world. And the company has been accused of serious abuse of its influence in the digital advertising market. Because of Google, the international market for digital advertising has become quite uncompetitive.

The statement also said that due to Google, the income of the media from the digital advertising sector has also decreased at a large rate. In fact, as almost all the organizations in the world are now more interested in advertising on Google, many newspapers and media companies are now forced to publish ads at much less than their fixed charges.

‘Google should have taken a balanced policy in line with the current market rather than formulating advertising policies according to their own will. The company has been messaged several times before on this issue, but Google did not pay attention to it.

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Meanwhile, in a counter statement, Google said that the allegations in this case are fictitious. Opportunistic media groups made this case on purpose. Google has always tried, and still does, to maintain a constructive relationship with European media. Moreover, Google has been publishing advertisements at the fixed rates of European news agencies.

Google has been penalized for its advertising policies before. In 2021, France’s media authorities and in 2023, the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union (EU), fined Google a total of 220 million euros.

Source: Reuters

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