Daily Mail owner lays an antitrust suit against Google, citing royal coverage

The Daily Mail’s concern stems in part from the assessment that the coverage of the British royal family was downgraded in Google’s search results in 2021, a spokesman for the publisher said.

In a statement, a Google spokesman denied the allegations in the case. “The Daily Mail’s allegations are completely inaccurate. The use of our advertising technology tools does not affect a publisher’s position on Google Search. More generally, we are competing in an overcrowded and competitive advertising technology space where publishers have and exercise multiple options, ‘the statement said.

Publisher managers complain privately about Google’s dominance over search and advertising, but few are exposed with their grievances. In January, West Virginia’s parent company, Charleston Gazette-Mail, filed an antitrust case against Google and Facebook Inc. filed. Several other small publishers filed a lawsuit against the two tech companies on Monday, citing an agreement called “Jedi Blue”.

Separately, Google is facing antitrust lawsuits brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General in several states. The company denied abusing its market power, saying the advertising technology market was competitive.

The Daily Mail, known in the UK for news and pop culture, has built one of the world’s most read websites, with 75 million unique monthly visitors to the US, according to the case, claiming unspecified damages. The case also calls for Google to stop its alleged misconduct and provide transparency in its news-news algorithm.

Publishers have a complicated relationship with Google. The technology company’s search engine is a major source of web traffic for many sites, and most of the industry uses Google software to sell advertising space in advertising exchanges. But Google also competes with publishers for online advertising dollars and provides tools to ad buyers. According to research firm eMarketer, Google had a share of nearly 29% of the U.S. digital advertising market by 2020.

In the lawsuit filed by the Mail owner, Associated Newspapers Ltd., and its US entity, Mail Media Inc., the publisher claims that Google linked its search engine and advertising sales platform to put pressure on publishers and its market power. abuse.

In 2019, Google penalized the Daily Mail in its search results because the publisher set up its online advertising sales in such a way that, according to Google, the business was sent away from Google in many cases. Google later adjusted its technology to counter the tactic and restore the Daily Mail’s normal search performance, the case claims.

Recently, managers of Daily Mail were disappointed that the report about the royal family did not appear prominently on the site in search results for keywords such as ‘Meghan and Harry’, ‘Piers Morgan’ and ‘Prince Philip’, the publisher’s spokesperson. said.

According to the case, Google has given its online exchange special advantages over competitors at ad space auctions. It quoted ‘Project Bernanke’, a secret program referred to in a lawsuit in Texas against Google, which allegedly enabled the company to gain insight into the bidding behavior of competitors. Google acknowledged the existence of the program, but denied that it was inappropriate, saying competitors had used similar techniques.

The Daily Mail case also claims that Google’s plan to phase out “cookies” – pieces of code used to track users on the internet – in its Chrome web browser will make it harder for advertisers to target ads , unless they purchase through Google’s systems. Google said it was making the change to protect users’ privacy.

Although they are very concerned about Google, many publishers are eager to license news reports to the technology giant in exchange for a fee. Google has started licensing news for its Google News Showcase product. According to someone familiar with the Daily Mail, the Daily Mail did not accept any money from the News Showcase.

Write to Patience Haggin by [email protected]