On 27 May 2025, Specialist collective redress law firm KP Law, representing Roger Kaye KC, filed a £25 billion claim against Google alleging that it has abused its dominant position in online search advertising.
It alleges that Google’s agreements with device manufacturers to make it the default search option on devices pushed prices up even further.
The opt-out class action, filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, argues that Google’s unlawful conduct exploited between 500,000 and 1.5 million UK advertisers, resulting in ‘excessive and unfair prices’ for search advertising.
Mr Kaye KC, a former deputy High Court judge, is acting as the class representative. He is seeking compensation for all UK advertisers who paid Google more, either directly or through intermediaries, for search advertising from 1 January 2011 to the date of filing the claim. It is estimated that the aggregated award could be up to £25 billion.
While there have been several previous UK collective actions against Google and its parent company, Alphabet, Mr Kaye KC’s application will be the first to include a standalone claim seeking damages for ‘abusive exploitative behaviour’.
The additional claim seeks to address the imposition of ‘supracompetitive’ pricing – pricing above what can be sustained in a competitive market – for the display of text ads and product listing ads on Google’s search engine results pages since October 2015.
The case argues that through agreements with phone manufacturers and multiple network operators to secure the tech giant as the default search option, and a payment of billions of pounds to Apple to ensure its prominent position on the company’s web browser, Safari, Google excluded rival services and was therefore able to maintain such a significant degree of dominance that it could charge prices far above any competitive benchmark without any resulting impact on sales
Duncan Hedar, head of KP Law’s competition department, says: “In contrast to previous cases filed in the UK, Mr Kaye KC seeks to take the action one step further by rightly compensating the vast number of businesses who’ve had to suffer the imposition of Google’s abuse of power.
“The unlawful conduct has already been proven by both the European Commission and a US court, and it is time that all affected UK advertisers are duly compensated for the financial repercussions to their business.”
Roger Kaye KC, who has over 25 years’ experience sitting as a deputy High Court judge, added: “This case marks a significant step in reestablishing a fair and competitive landscape for all advertisers. Monopolising the advertising space to the point of abuse cannot continue.”
The case is supported by significant expert advisers, including Keystone AI and Andrea Coscelli, the former head of the Competitions and Markets Authority, and Professor Andrew Stephen of Said Business School, University of Oxford.
Further information regarding the claim, including regular updates, can be found at: www.searchadvertisingclaim.co.uk
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Lucy Gardner, Black Letter Communications 07956 653 404 /
lucy.gardner@blacklettercommunications.co.uk
Kerry Jack, Black Letter Communications 020 3567 1208 / kerry.jack@blacklettercommunications.co.uk
About Roger Kaye KC
Mr Kaye KC is a retired deputy High Court judge with over 25 years of extensive experience (part-time and full-time) sitting at High Court level cases in all civil jurisdictions. Mr Kaye KC has sat in all divisions of the High Court, including cases in (now) Business and Property Courts (Chancery, Commercial, Company, Banking, Mercantile, IT disputes, group litigation, and family finance).
This includes experience of overseeing cases running in the Competition Appeal Tribunal as chair of SPV (UKTC) for dealing with claims by truck owners of trucks subjected to an unlawful cartel involving all major European truck manufacturers (as so found by the European Commission) and involves gaining experience of litigation funding arrangements and group litigation in CAT.
About KP Law
KP Law is a leading collective redress law firm and has represented tens of thousands of employees and consumers, as well as businesses and commercial entities, and has built a reputation for standing up to large, well-funded organisations.
In March 2024, the UK arm of US firm Keller Postman merged with Lanier Longstaff Hedar & Roberts to create KP Law. The firm is now independent of Keller Postman.
It is a founding member of CORLA (Collective Redress Lawyers Association). Andrew Nugent Smith is Managing Partner. It bolstered its competition law practice with the recruitment of experienced competition litigator Emma Birch, who joined from Fieldfisher in the summer of 2024.
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