The complaint was filed with a court in Amsterdam on Thursday. The companies claim that Google has limited competition in the online advertising market, putting them at a disadvantage.
The publishers include the Belgian groups Mediahuis (publisher of De Standaard and Nieuwsblad, among others) and DPG Media (De Morgen, Het Laatste Nieuws). This also concerns the German Axel Springer (Bild) and media companies from Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden.
The publishers rely on a 2021 ruling by the French competition watchdog, which concluded that Google is abusing its dominance of the online advertising market. This dominant position is also the subject of an investigation by the European Commission and a lawsuit by the American Department of Justice.
Veiling
When an Internet user visits a web page, such as an article on a news site, advertisers can bid in an online auction for the chance to show that person an ad. These fully automated auctions happen millions of times per second and last milliseconds.
Google organizes the auctions, but also provides the software that both advertisers and publishers use. “There is a conflict of interest there,” says Stijn Huijts, partner at law firm Geradin Partners, which represents the media companies. This situation has two negative effects for publishers, he says. First, Google takes high commissions on sold ads, higher than would be possible in a truly competitive market. Secondly, the price of some advertisements is artificially reduced by Google’s insight into all sides of the auction process.
All this has cost publishers 2.1 billion euros since 2014, a specialized study agency calculated.
Take a long time
“This lawsuit is speculative and opportunistic,” Google chief legal officer Oliver Bethell said in a written response. “We will oppose it strongly and on the basis of facts.”
The Dutch case could take years. “But we have the time,” says Huijts. According to him, Google could also opt for a settlement.
