Google sued for £5bn in UK over allegations of shutting out rivals

Class action argues US tech firm charged more for advertising on its preinstalled apps than it could in fair market

Google is being sued in the UK for up to 5bn in damages over allegations it shut out rivals in the internet search market and abused this dominance to overcharge businesses for advertisements.

A class action filed at the competition appeal tribunal on Wednesday argues that the US company has taken actions that enable it to charge higher prices for the promotions that appear in search queries than it otherwise could in a fair market.

It is alleged that Google, which is owned by Alphabet, contracted phone makers to pre-install the Google search app and Chrome browser on Android devices and paid Apple to make it the default search engine on iPhones, with the intention of shutting out competition.

The claim is filed by a competition law expert, Or Brook, on behalf of thousands of businesses and alleges Google ensured its search engine had better functionality and more features for Google's own advertising offering than that of its competitors.

A Google spokesperson said: This is yet another speculative and opportunistic case and we will argue against it vigorously. Consumers and advertisers use Google because it is helpful, not because there are no alternatives."