Court rules Google must face £13.6bn advertising lawsuit

Google must face a £13.6bn lawsuit in the UK for allegedly abusing its dominance in the online advertising market.

The Ad Tech Collective Action LLP claims Google's anti-competitive practices caused financial losses for UK online publishers. Despite Alphabet's efforts to dismiss the case as "incoherent," the Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled it can proceed to trial.

The lawsuit focuses on "self-preferencing," where Google allegedly promotes its own services over competitors', resulting in reduced ad revenue for publishers and high fees.

The case is opt-out, including all relevant UK publishers, and funded by an unknown third party, with no court date set yet.