Fresh from its $272 million win against Uber, class action lawyers Maurice Blackburn are now eyeing off Google's adtech

Law firm Maurice Blackburn is wading into an issue that’s vexed the federal government, competition watchdog the ACCC, as well as the media, investigating a potential class action against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct in Australia’s digital advertising market.

The idea is likely to be tempting to publishers Google has not struck deals with under the government’s News Media Bargaining Code offering compensation for lost revenue in being forced to use Google’s adtech services.

In June the tech giant struck new agreements running 1-to-5 years with Nine, Seven West Media, News Corp and smaller publishers such as Times News Group, Private Media and The Conversation. It’s worth an estimated $130 million, so while publishers who missed out on Google striking agreements have nothing to lose, those receiving cash will have to weigh up if there’s more money on the table once the lawyers have taken their cut if successful.

This week, the Victorian Supreme Court ratified a $271.8 million settlement from US ride-sharing giant Uber following a five-year class action by Maurice Blackburn on behalf of the Australian taxi industry.

The law firm pocketed $38.7 million from the settlement, including its uplift fee (for winning), launched the case against Uber in 2019. Litigation funder, Harbour Fund scored around 30% of the settlement, $81.54 million, as its funding commission, leaving $152 million in the kitty for the taxi industry.
Meanwhile, the government is trying to figure out how to deal with Meta after pulling out of the Code.

The class action would seek compensation for publishers of digital ad inventory who received less revenue than otherwise for the space they sell, due to Google’s role.

Maurice Blackburn argues Google has a dominant position at all points of the adtech supply chain, providing adtech services to both the advertisers and publishers through programmatic advertising.

The potential class action follows similar proceedings in the US, including a Department of Justice prosecution that went to trial in September this year, as well as legal actions by both advertisers and publishers, plus class actions in the UK Competition Tribunal and Canada.

The ACCC’s 2021 inquiry into digital advertising raised competition concerns, concluding that Google’s conflicts of interest had “led to poor outcomes” for publishers.

“Over more than a decade, Google’s vertical integration and strength in ad tech services has allowed it to engage in a range of conduct which has lessened competition over time and entrenched its dominant position,” the ACCC Digital advertising services inquiry final report said.

Maurice Blackburn said that anyone who has a website and/or mobile phone app that displays digital advertising (ie. sells ad space) directed at Australian consumers at some point in the past six years may have suffered financial loss because of Google’s conduct and, if the action proceeds, be eligible for compensation.

The ad space needs to have been sold programmatically using AdTech services and you need to have used a Google product to sell your ad space.

For more details and to register to be part of it, check out the details here.