Daily Mail files competition lawsuit against Google over royal coverage
The Daily Mail has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google over allegations the tech giant unfairly manipulated its rankings in search results.
In the suit filed in Manhattan federal court, the newspaper’s parent company accused Google of punishing publishers’ search rankings if they do not sell enough advertising space through Google’s marketplace.
The Daily Mail’s concerns were fuelled in part by its view that the paper’s coverage of the royal family this year had been played down by Google, a spokesperson said.
The legal action was filed by Mail owner Associated Newspapers, part of London-listed Daily Mail and General Trust, as well as the group’s US division Mail Media.
According to the complaint, Google took action against the Mail in 2019 because the publisher had set up its online ad sales in a way that diverted business away from the tech giant.
It says the platform subsequently changed its technology to restore normal search rankings.
But executives are said to have been disappointed that the Mail’s extensive online coverage of a major rift in the royal family, as well as the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, was not given appropriate coverage.
A Google spokesperson said of the case:”The Daily Mail’s claims are completely inaccurate.
“The use of our ad tech tools has no bearing on how a publisher’s website ranks in Google Search. More generally, we compete in a crowded and competitive ad tech space where publishers have and exercise multiple options. The Daily Mail itself authorizes dozens of adtech companies to sell and manage their ad space, including Amazon, Verizon and more. We will defend ourselves against these meritless claims.”
The suit comes a week after Google was accused of insider trading in the digital advertising market through its use of a secret programme that allegedly gave it an unfair advantage over rivals.
Court documents filed in a Texas lawsuit state the scheme, dubbed Project Bernanke, used access to data about past bids in Google’s advertising exchange to give it the upper hand on competitors.
The tech giant is also facing a US Justice Department probe while a new UK regulator has been tasked with reviewing the relationship between platforms and publishers.
In its lawsuit, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Mail also cited concerns about Project Bernanke, as well as Google’s plans to block third-party cookies.
“This lawsuit is to hold Google to account for their continued anti-competitive behavior including manipulation of ad auctions and news search results, bid rigging, algorithm bias and exploiting its market power to harm their advertising rivals,” a Daily Mail spokesperson said.
“Despite increased criticism by regulators and governments around the world, Google’s ongoing behavior clearly shows they are not prepared to change their conduct.”