The Competitors Enchantment Tribunal granted a collective proceedings order on 5 August 2026 towards six corporations within the Google group, sending an advertiser damages declare valued by the claimant facet at round £5 billion to trial on an opt-out foundation. Each UK-domiciled enterprise that paid for Google search promoting between 1 January 2011 and 15 April 2025 is now inside the category until it removes itself.
The judgment, carrying the impartial quotation [2026] CAT 65 and case quantity 1720/7/7/25, was handed down by a panel of the Honourable Mr Justice Meade as chair, sitting with John Davies and Robert Herga. It follows a listening to held at Salisbury Sq. Home in London on 8 July 2026, and it resolves an utility that had been sitting with the Tribunal since April 2025.
The claimant is Or Brook Class Consultant Restricted, a particular objective car whose sole director and member is Dr Or Brook, a contest legislation tutorial. The proposed defendants are Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google Eire Restricted, Google UK Restricted, Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd and Google Commerce Restricted. The Tribunal handled them collectively as a single endeavor all through, noting that it was pointless for current functions to differentiate between them.
Certification just isn’t a discovering of legal responsibility. It’s the procedural gateway that decides whether or not a declare might be pursued collectively in any respect, and on what foundation. What the Tribunal selected 5 August 2026 is that Or Brook Class Consultant Restricted is appropriate to behave as class consultant, that the claims are eligible for collective remedy, and, most consequentially, that the proceedings will run on an opt-out footing quite than requiring every advertiser to enroll individually.
That final level was the struggle. In line with the judgment, counsel for Google instructed the Tribunal that its objections to certification fell into 4 broad teams: the funding preparations and the extent of prices incurred and budgeted; sure amendments the category consultant sought permission to make to its declare kind; the category definition; and whether or not certification needs to be on an opt-out or opt-in foundation. Google indicated that if the primary three teams had been satisfactorily addressed, it didn’t oppose opt-in certification. It opposed opt-out certification in any situation.
The Tribunal inverted that ordering. Though Google had positioned the opt-in query final and made its non-opposition conditional, the panel handled it first, describing it as the most important subject and the one which took probably the most time and argument. The opposite three teams had been resolved basically within the class consultant’s favour, no less than to the extent that none of them was handled as a bar to certification, although a number of would require additional consideration because the case progresses.
Who’s within the class and what it covers
The proposed class definition, reproduced within the judgment and within the Tribunal’s earlier discover of utility, reads: all UK-domiciled Advertisers who, throughout the Related Interval, paid for search promoting companies offered by Google, whether or not they bought straight or through a media company.
The Related Interval runs from 1 January 2011 to fifteen April 2025. That could be a span of simply over fourteen years, closing on the date the collective proceedings declare kind was dated. Media businesses themselves are excluded from the category, as is the category consultant and anybody performing for or instructed by it. Pure individuals who had died by the domicile date are excluded, as are authorized individuals that had been dissolved, struck off the register or in any other case ceased to exist by that date. The domicile date itself has not but been mounted and will probably be decided by the Tribunal.
Google argued that the phrase “search promoting companies” didn’t clarify what fell contained in the definition. In its reply, the category consultant clarified that the definition covers each textual content advertisements and product itemizing advertisements on Google’s search engine outcomes pages, though the definition itself was left unchanged.
The Tribunal didn’t regard the definition as problematic. In line with the judgment, the truth that there is likely to be arguments on the fringes doesn’t have an effect on that conclusion. One such fringe query was raised on the listening to: whether or not commercials on YouTube could be lined. The category consultant’s reply, which the panel thought-about cheap, was that video advertisements should not lined by the definition, and that factual inquiry or disclosure will probably be wanted to determine whether or not textual content advertisements or product itemizing advertisements are served through YouTube. Google didn’t seem to have problem with the video advertisements proposition. A suggestion in Google’s written response that the category definition must be tied to market definition was not pursued on the listening to.
The panel additionally famous that Google had been in a position to compile information in regards to the proposed class for the needs of its personal professional proof, some extent that recurs later within the judgment when the Tribunal turns to how any damages award would really be distributed.
The conduct alleged
The category consultant alleges that Google holds dominant positions in a set of related markets: the worldwide marketplace for licensable good cell working programs, the worldwide marketplace for Android app shops, the assorted nationwide markets for normal search companies, and the UK or wider marketplace for search engine administration companies.
The alleged abuse contains three principal components, in accordance with the judgment.
Android distribution and anti-fragmentation
First, in relation to the Android ecosystem, Google is alleged to have imposed situations in its cell utility distribution agreements with system producers that had the impact of tying Google Search to the Play Retailer, and Chrome to Google Search and the Play Retailer. The category consultant additionally depends on anti-fragmentation agreements and associated obligations stated to have restricted the event of other variations of Android, referred to within the pleadings as Android Forks.
Past the contractual tying, the declare alleges that Google provided substantial monetary incentives to unique tools producers and cell community operators, together with by way of placement agreements, revenue-sharing agreements and cell incentive agreements, with a purpose to safe pre-installation and distinguished placement of Google Search and Chrome and to discourage the set up of competing search companies.
The pleaded principle is that these strands had been mutually reinforcing. Tying preparations and anti-fragmentation obligations meant that producers eager to ship gadgets with the Play Retailer had been, in sensible phrases, additionally required to ship Google Search and Chrome. Restrictions on Android Forks are stated to have prevented the emergence of other Android ecosystems able to working independently of Google’s companies, which in flip bolstered the central place of the Play Retailer.
Browser default funds
Second, the declare issues agreements with browser builders underneath which Google Search was set because the default search engine in trade for financial incentives. Explicit reliance is positioned on Google’s preparations with Apple, although the category consultant additionally refers to agreements with Mozilla and Opera.
The Tribunal’s earlier discover of utility put the alleged impact plainly: Google ensures {that a} very massive proportion of gadgets and browsers are equipped in order that Google Search is pre-installed, prominently positioned or set because the default, which means system customers are overwhelmingly possible to make use of Google Search as an alternative of any rival search engine. The consequence pleaded is that Google’s personal search platform turns into the one viable technique of serving search commercials to the overwhelming majority of system customers.
Search Adverts 360 and multi-homing
Third, the declare challenges Google’s conduct in relation to Search Ads 360, the promoting administration platform utilized by businesses and enormous advertisers to run campaigns throughout totally different search suppliers. In line with the judgment, it’s alleged that Google launched performance for its personal promoting companies whereas refusing or delaying equal performance for Microsoft’s competing providing, proscribing advertisers’ means to make use of a number of search and promoting platforms successfully. The pleaded impact is that customers of SA360 are artificially biased in direction of promoting on Google.
The technical substance of that allegation is acquainted territory for anybody who has managed enterprise search campaigns. SA360, previously DoubleClick Search, sits above the person advert platforms as a cross-engine layer, pulling reporting and making use of portfolio bid methods throughout Google Ads, Google Purchasing and Microsoft Advertising. Characteristic parity between what the platform can do for Google stock and what it could possibly do for rival stock determines, in apply, how a lot of a marketing campaign an advertiser can realistically run exterior Google. Search Ads 360 integrated Microsoft automated bidding in August 2024, a number of years after equal Google performance was obtainable, and the platform has continued so as to add companions, most lately bringing Koddi’s commerce media network inside SA360 in June 2026.
The general case is that these strands of conduct fashioned a single and steady abuse of dominance aimed toward securing and sustaining Google’s place normally search and search promoting, permitting it to cost supra-competitive costs for search promoting and to cut back the worth obtained from that promoting. The consequence pleaded is that advertisers paid extra and achieved a decrease return on promoting spend than they might have in a aggressive market.
Observe-on and standalone components
The declare is superior on each a follow-on and a standalone foundation. The follow-on part depends partly on the European Fee’s resolution of 18 July 2018 in case AT.40099, the Google Android resolution, as subsequently reviewed by the Normal Courtroom and the Courtroom of Justice of the European Union. The category consultant contends that sure facets of the conduct alleged correspond to conduct already discovered illegal in these proceedings, and that the tying preparations and anti-fragmentation obligations had been conclusively established there, whereas alleging that such conduct continued past the interval the Fee thought-about.
That basis firmed up shortly earlier than certification. The Court of Justice dismissed Google’s appeal in full on 2 July 2026, confirming a effective of 4.125 billion euros and rejecting the argument that an as-efficient-competitor test is a universal requirement underneath Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, with Alphabet remaining collectively answerable for 1.52 billion euros. Or Brook referred to that judgment in a LinkedIn submit revealed after certification, describing the current case as, partly, a follow-on motion from the Google Android case that had been confirmed by the Courtroom of Justice the earlier month.
The standalone part covers components of Google’s conduct not established as illegal by the Fee resolution however which the category consultant says kind a part of the identical abuse, together with conduct that continued and advanced after the interval lined by the 2018 resolution.
Supporting materials cited within the declare consists of the Competitors and Markets Authority’s on-line platforms and digital promoting market research of July 2019, its cell ecosystems market research remaining report of 10 June 2022, its cell browsers and cloud gaming report of 12 March 2025, and its notices underneath part 11(1) of the Digital Markets, Competitors and Shoppers Act 2024 commencing preliminary strategic market standing investigations into Google. The declare additionally depends on the judgment of the District Courtroom for the District of Columbia in United States v Google, case 20-cv-3010, dated 5 August 2024, which found that Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in general search services and general search text advertising. Google filed a 100-page opening brief on 22 May 2026 asking the D.C. Circuit to reverse that ruling in its entirety.
The central query: opt-out or opt-in
Beneath part 47B of the Competitors Act 1998 and guidelines 77 to 79 of the Competitors Enchantment Tribunal Guidelines 2015, the Tribunal should be happy of two situations earlier than making a collective proceedings order: the authorisation situation, regarding whether or not the proposed consultant might be authorised, and the eligibility situation, regarding whether or not the claims are appropriate for collective remedy. The judgment units out that framework by reference to the abstract given in Spottiswoode v Airwave [2025] CAT 60, which was itself cited in Stasi v Microsoft [2026] CAT 34.
The selection between opt-in and opt-out is ruled by rule 79(3), which allows the Tribunal to take into consideration all issues it thinks match, together with the energy of the claims and whether or not it’s practicable for the proceedings to be introduced on an opt-in foundation, having regard to the estimated quantity of damages particular person class members could get better.
Many of the argument turned on the Supreme Courtroom’s December 2025 resolution in Evans v Barclays Financial institution Plc and others [2025] UKSC 48, which examined how that evaluation needs to be performed. The judgment quotes the Supreme Courtroom at size. Among the many passages set out, the Supreme Courtroom acknowledged that the evaluation concerned just isn’t all or nothing, and that it’s applicable to view the energy of the declare on a sliding scale. On practicability, the Supreme Courtroom stated that the implication of rule 79(3)(b) is that whether it is practicable for proceedings to be introduced as opt-in proceedings, then typically talking they need to be.
Evans additionally addressed class composition. The Supreme Courtroom stated that the place the Tribunal identifies teams of claimants with distinct profiles, it ought to contemplate the practicability of an opt-in declare for every group individually after which stand again and make an general evaluation of the stability of justice. Within the passage Google leaned on hardest, the Supreme Courtroom endorsed the Tribunal majority’s conclusion in that case {that a} sub-class whose whole claims had been a tiny fraction of the mixture mustn’t alter the practicability conclusion, quoting the phrase “That will be to permit the tail to wag the canine”.
Google argued that the lengthy tail of smaller claims within the current proceedings shouldn’t be permitted to wag the canine of the higher-value claims held by a much smaller proportion of sophistication members, and that enormous entities making up the majority of the declare by worth shouldn’t be allowed to bolster their place by bundling themselves with class members whose claims make up a tiny fraction of the full.
The category consultant pointed to a few post-Evans choices, Stasi, Rodger v Alphabet [2026] CAT 49 and Ennis v Apple [2026] CAT 55, in every of which opt-in or partially opt-in certification was sought by defendants and rejected. It additionally cited Rodger v Alphabet [2025] CAT 45 and Spottiswoode v Airwave as examples of opt-out certification granted the place the category was far smaller than right here, at 2,200 within the former and between 400 and a couple of,000 within the latter.
Google’s counter-examples pointed the opposite means: the Vans litigation, the place the Tribunal licensed an opt-in declare with 11,000 claimants over a proposed opt-out different, and the Dieselgate group litigation order, the place 1.6 million claimants take part.
Notification and distribution
Central to Google’s place was the argument that the category consultant had not proven it might be impracticable to inform a really massive class, and had not engaged adequately with how an combination award could be distributed.
The proof the Tribunal weighed included the events’ statements of case, a witness assertion from Mr Teague of the category consultant’s solicitors, and a supplemental report of 10 June 2026 from Epiq, the claims handler retained by the category consultant. A letter from Google’s solicitors dated 29 June 2026, setting out what info Google says it does and doesn’t maintain about particular person advertisers, arrived after each the Teague assertion and the Epiq report.
The Tribunal was pointed about that sequencing. In line with the judgment, the panel might see no motive why Google couldn’t have offered the letter earlier, stated it was materials to assessing Google’s criticisms that the category consultant had been unable to take care of the issues raised in it, and acknowledged that it was unfair for Google to select away on the class consultant’s supplies in these circumstances. The panel described Mr Teague’s proof as cogent and dependable.
Google recognized what it stated was a rigidity within the class consultant’s place: asserting that contacting class members could be tough as a result of Google could not be capable to establish them, whereas concurrently asserting that distribution ought to not be tough as a result of many class members are present Google account holders. The Tribunal agreed there was one thing of a rigidity, however discovered it much less profound than Google claimed, and handled the place as clarified by the point of oral submissions.
The clarified place is the analytical core of the ruling. Contacting a category member to influence it to choose in and contacting the identical class member at hand it cash are, in accordance with the category consultant, radically totally different workouts. The Tribunal agreed. It reasoned that class members might be anticipated to be far much less attracted by a communication requiring them to think about becoming a member of a authorized motion with unsure and distant prospects, and to commit themselves to additional motion, than by a communication on the distribution stage that merely requires them to just accept cash, or, simpler nonetheless, to just accept what would quantity to a refund from Google if they continue to be account holders.
The Gutmann benchmark
Google relied closely on Gutmann v First MTR South Western Trains Restricted [2025] CAT 72, to this point the one collective proceedings case to have reached distribution, the place take-up was under 1 per cent. Epiq was the claims handler there too. Google’s arithmetic was direct: on a 1 per cent take-up, an combination award of £5 billion would produce roughly £50 million really distributed, a determine corresponding to the full projected prices of the proceedings.
The Tribunal accepted that take-up in Gutmann had been extraordinarily low however declined to deal with it as a benchmark, discovering the distribution train there completely totally different, significantly due to the absence of a superb direct technique of particular person communication, which the panel expects to be current on this case.
Epiq’s supplemental report set out factors of distinction between a distribution train primarily based on defendant-held information the place the defendant has a seamless relationship with class members, and a broader public-facing marketing campaign of the Gutmann kind. These factors, which the Tribunal described as extremely materials, persuasive and in step with widespread sense, cowl direct and credible communication quite than normal commercials or web sites, the probability that class members will probably be precisely recognized, the larger authority class members will connect to such communications, and a lower-friction claims expertise through which class members have much less to do to show they’re real and to doc their utilization of the companies.
Google’s extra granular objections got quick shrift. In line with the judgment, the panel thought-about that Google majored on a lot of factors reflecting a nit-picking, detrimental strategy, and which in some instances attacked arguments the category consultant was not making. Google famous that it may not maintain fee particulars for some class members, and that some would possibly now not be account holders. The Tribunal discovered these factors did nothing of substance to recommend that direct contact with the vast majority of class members on the distribution stage could be unimaginable.
The panel went additional on burden. It acknowledged that it thought-about it inherently unbelievable that an organization like Google, within the enterprise through which it operates, can’t establish and phone its advertisers if it needs to, even the place promoting is positioned by way of businesses, and stated that in sensible phrases the burden on this subject had shifted to Google to point out difficulties existed.
One trade on the listening to illustrates the hole. The Tribunal recognized as an necessary although removed from decisive query whether or not the distinctive identifiers used when media businesses place commercials with Google map again to particular person advertisers, since a distribution train could be significantly simpler in the event that they did. In line with the judgment, Google was not in a position to reply.
On working by way of businesses, the Tribunal was cautious to say what the category consultant had not proposed. It doesn’t imply handing businesses many thousands and thousands of kilos and hoping the cash is handed on, a proposition the panel accepted could be hopeless. It means securing company help in an information-gathering and evaluation activity in order that contact might be made with their shoppers, one thing the Tribunal thought-about businesses would clearly be motivated to assist with, and which Google itself had postulated when arguing that an opt-in train could be practicable.
A fallback of ordering account credit to Google advertisers for unclaimed combination damages, mentioned in BT v Le Patourel [2022] EWCA Civ 593, was described as considerably speculative and unsure, with some potential for that situation, however not essential to the choice.
The conclusion was that efficient, direct distribution to particularly recognized particular person class members of an combination award far in extra of 1 per cent could fairly be anticipated, and that efficient restoration direct to class members could be a lot larger than the anticipated prices, massive although these are, with out the panel placing a particular quantity on the ratio.
Class profile
The judgment information that it was widespread floor that the good majority of the declare worth is accounted for by a small proportion of sophistication members, with a tiny proportion holding claims within the thousands and thousands of kilos, whereas many class members have very small claims. Particular figures had been withheld as commercially confidential.
The Tribunal connected significance to a center tier: a fabric variety of claims of middling measurement, within the tens of hundreds of kilos, accounting for a major proportion of the claimed damages. Google didn’t argue that the distribution of declare values allowed a clear subdivision into sub-classes, and didn’t contend for a hybrid association with half opt-in and half opt-out.
On the practicalities of constructing an opt-in ebook throughout a category the judgment places at about 880,000, the Tribunal accepted proof that the train could be lengthy and tough. Making contact is simply the beginning. Companies would need to perceive and ask questions on their legal responsibility for prices, their publicity to giving disclosure, and their relationships with the legal professionals dealing with the case. The panel discovered that many class members would merely not be part of, {that a} vital proportion of the attainable combination declare could be misplaced, and that the impression could be felt materially among the many middle-sized claims.
Period was the second impact. The Tribunal declined to place a particular determine on how lengthy a book-building train would take however stated it could possibly be effectively over a yr, maybe two. That delay could be prone to push again the parallel Stopford proceedings, given the necessity to handle widespread points effectively, and the panel stated it might be unfair for that to occur. Counsel for Google submitted that Stopford wouldn’t be at an entire halt as a result of disclosure instructions on widespread points are being progressed, which the Tribunal accepted as partial amelioration solely.
Two of the category consultant’s arguments acquired cooler remedy. On the submission that rearranging funding and insurance coverage from an opt-out to an opt-in construction could be time-consuming and unsure, the panel discovered it considerably presumptuous for the category consultant to have organized the entire proceedings on an opt-out foundation after which argue that altering it might be exhausting, whereas noting the general resolution could be the identical both means.
On the submission that some class members wouldn’t choose in for worry of damaging current business relationships with Google, the panel discovered no proof that Google would possibly retaliate towards advertisers who joined, and stated it was honest for Google to react because it did to the suggestion. But it surely accepted that there could be a normal disinclination to enter right into a dispute with a key business companion, supported by regulatory supplies and by widespread sense. Once more, the Tribunal stated the result would have been the identical with out that issue.
Different elements and the cost-benefit stability
Three additional elements had been weighed. First, the Tribunal discovered these should not weak claims, observing that the straightforward reality they’re largely follow-on demonstrates as a lot, and noting that Google didn’t actually attempt to argue in any other case. That issue weighs in favour of opt-out, in distinction to the place in Evans.
Second, for the reason that Stopford proceedings are opt-out and will probably be determined absent settlement, there could be a threat of inconsistency if the current proceedings had been opt-in.
Third, opt-out will increase the scale of the claims and Google’s general publicity. The category consultant argued that Google is so huge and highly effective that it needn’t care. The Tribunal rejected that framing, noting the identical might have been stated in Evans, and assessed the extra stress as a modest distinction that’s not unfair in all of the circumstances, including that to the extent the claims are meritorious there are sound coverage the explanation why restoration needs to be maximised.
Having rejected the 1 per cent take-up situation, the panel concluded that the possible worth of combination damages is far larger than the prices, massive although they’re, and that the cost-benefit evaluation falls effectively in favour of certification on an opt-out foundation.
The evaluation paragraph is unequivocal. In line with the judgment, the stability may be very clearly in favour of opt-out certification, opt-in would carry many sensible issues, could be gradual, would have an undesirable and unfair impression on Stopford, and would unjustifiably scale back the scale of the general declare. The panel added that there’s nearly nothing to be stated in favour of opt-in against this, and that in as far as there’s a presumption in favour of opt-in, it’s comfortably displaced on the info.
Cash: funding, prices and governance
Certification cleared, however the Tribunal spent a considerable portion of the judgment on price self-discipline, and the language is markedly much less accommodating than within the opt-out evaluation.
The category consultant’s charge
Google submitted that Dr Brook’s hourly charge of £250 is extreme, counting on the expectation in Waterside Class Restricted v Mowi ASA [2026] CAT 32 that governance preparations needs to be proportionate and aligned with public sector benchmarks.
The Tribunal famous it had heard comparatively little argument on the broader context, and that the choice of the Tribunal in case 1759/7/7/25 JLP A&A v Apple Inc. and Amazon, with judgment anticipated later this yr, could give detailed consideration to the difficulty. It made clear its resolution just isn’t meant to set a sample, precedent or vital information level.
Three elements moved the panel. Dr Brook is prepared to cap what she costs for any at some point at £750 even when she works greater than three hours; she doesn’t cost in the best way a solicitor would, incessantly not billing for particular person duties that take solely a short while; and he or she has given details about month-to-month totals billed that the Tribunal described as under no circumstances extreme. The efficient hourly charge will subsequently be significantly decrease than £250, significantly for intervals when she works entire days, although the panel stated it’s not readily attainable to calculate the efficient charge with precision.
Balancing that towards her contribution, the Tribunal discovered she makes main, cautious, detailed contributions to the shaping, drafting, administration and governance of the declare, and isn’t a mere figurehead. It concluded the speed just isn’t undue or extreme, whereas acknowledging that later and wider-ranging choices could set coverage underneath which the speed could possibly be stated, with hindsight, to be on the excessive facet.
The consultative panel
Google devoted much less consideration to the consultative panel however pointed to its measurement and to the truth that two members, Mr Kaye and Ms Prevezer KC, cost £1,000 an hour.
The Tribunal recognised that consultative panel members could also be considered exterior skilled advisers, so the general public sector comparability doesn’t apply to them in the identical means. It however described the charges as extraordinarily excessive and stated ongoing scrutiny of whether or not the panel and its members are getting used appropriately and economically is necessary. In line with the judgment, not each matter wants the involvement of all of them, and use of the dearer members needs to be rigorously constrained to issues the place they, and solely they, are particularly crucial.
The panel known as this a major and particular concern, required cautious information of what the consultative panel does, how a lot time every member spends on every matter and why, and stated utilization will probably be reviewed on an ongoing foundation. It didn’t deal with the difficulty as a motive to withhold certification.
In line with the declare’s personal web site, the consultative panel contains Sue Prevezer KC, Mark McLaren, Dr Lara Stoimenova and Ann Pope. The judgment information that Mr Kaye grew to become chairperson of that panel underneath the carriage settlement, a change the revealed About Us web page had not mirrored as of the date of certification.
Overlap with the buyer declare
The current declare overlaps considerably with case 1606/7/7/23, Nikki Stopford v Alphabet Inc and others, which issues considerably the identical underlying conduct and was licensed on an opt-out foundation on 22 November 2024. The important distinction is the category: Stopford claims on behalf of shoppers, on a principle that elevated promoting prices are handed on to them, whereas the Brook proceedings declare on behalf of the advertisers who paid these prices straight.
Counsel appeared for the Stopford class consultant on the certification listening to however made no submissions, written or oral.
The category consultant recognized financial savings of about £2 million to £3 million available from cooperation with Stopford. The Tribunal known as that very disappointingly small within the context of budgeted prices of as much as nearly £30 million for this declare alone. Informed that the estimates had been made conservatively in order to not elevate hopes of financial savings that didn’t materialise, the panel stated the efficiencies must be a lot larger, and criticised the tactic: the strategy embeds the unique price range after which appears for financial savings, whereas the category consultant ought to as an alternative establish the minimal work crucial for points distinctive to this declare and assume all the pieces else is widespread.
The Tribunal signalled that it intends to make joint case administration instructions in each units of proceedings that explicitly restrict the sources either side could commit to points. Aside from on pass-on, the place the 2 lessons have a direct battle, the panel stated it must be attainable for there to be just one staff of legal professionals and, the place related, one professional on any a part of the case.
Dr Brook raised the priority that if joint points had been left to Stopford and that case settled, the advertiser declare could be left stranded. The Tribunal endorsed Google’s proposed answer: joint instruction of a single professional and authorized staff for widespread points, on phrases that if one class drops away the instruction on behalf of the opposite continues. The panel described that as a fairly widespread association and noticed no motive why it might not work.
A joint case administration convention will probably be held to offer impact to that construction, and the Tribunal described it as of vital significance, and as a chance to train its persevering with supervisory position over the prices of the proceedings as an entire.
Prices up to now
Prices incurred earlier than certification exceed £6.4 million. The Tribunal known as this extraordinarily excessive and stated it’s not straightforward to see that it may be justifiable. It accepted that the case may be very difficult and that a lot analytical work has been front-loaded, and it accepted that direct comparability with instances resembling Waterside just isn’t significant, for the reason that claims are very totally different. Google had identified that pre-certification prices of £2.5 million in Waterside had been described by the Tribunal there as “inexplicably excessive”, towards greater than £6 million right here.
The panel stated it doesn’t want a direct comparator to have a well-founded concern that the prices could also be unjustifiable, noting that the case has not reached disclosure and but about £2 million has already been spent on consultants. As with the opposite price points, it declined to deal with this as a motive to withhold certification, saying the necessary factor will probably be to manage prices going ahead alongside the deduplication train with Stopford.
The carriage dispute and its worth
The judgment devotes a full part to how the declare got here to be the one advertiser declare within the discipline, and the Tribunal treats the settlement that produced that consequence as a stay price query quite than a closed chapter.
A separate proposed collective declare on behalf of advertisers, introduced by Mr Roger Kaye KC, was filed on 27 Might 2025, after the Brook declare. The overlap produced a carriage dispute over which proposed class consultant needs to be authorised. That dispute was heard on 6 and seven October 2025. The Tribunal reserved its resolution however inspired the events to think about a consensual decision. The chair’s remarks on the time, quoted within the certification judgment, included: “We predict it’s unlikely that we’ll attain a choice that this can be a clear resolution all a method.”
By letter dated 24 October 2025 the groups instructed the Tribunal that discussions had taken place and that either side thought-about there to be a practical prospect of settlement. On 10 November 2025 an settlement in precept was reached. In broad phrases, the Brook proceedings would proceed as the only real set of proposed collective proceedings, the Kaye proceedings could be stayed, and members of the Kaye authorized and professional groups would take agreed roles inside the Brook proceedings. Mr Kaye would turn out to be chairperson of the consultative panel. Revised funding and insurance coverage preparations could be carried out. By order made on 7 April 2026 and drawn on 8 April 2026, the Tribunal stayed the Kaye proceedings, offering that they might be withdrawn if the Brook proceedings are licensed.
The monetary penalties drew the Tribunal’s consideration. Each Mr Kaye’s prices and the category consultant’s prices of the carriage dispute are included inside the Whole Funding Quantity, for which the funder is entitled to be totally reimbursed and which is used to calculate the funder’s return as a a number of of that quantity, as much as a most of six instances. These funds to the funder had been to rank forward of the proposed class. In line with the judgment, which means the settlement of the carriage dispute could price the proposed class a considerable amount of cash. Individually, Mr Kaye’s authorized staff could also be entitled to success charges for his or her work on the Kaye proceedings.
Google requested the Tribunal to resolve three issues instantly: that the carriage dispute prices should not recoverable towards Google; that the funder just isn’t entitled to any return on them out of a damages award; and that Mr Kaye’s authorized staff shouldn’t be entitled to success charges.
The Tribunal dominated on the primary, holding it clear that Google ought to not be answerable for the prices of a dispute between two different events through which it had no curiosity and didn’t take part. No submission on the contrary was made.
The second and third had been deferred to a later stage of the proceedings, with the panel noting they’re vital points that may advantage correct consideration then. The category consultant’s place on the report is that there is no such thing as a rule that carriage dispute prices can by no means be recovered, counting on Hunter and Hammond v Amazon [2024] CAT 68, and that Dr Brook has negotiated the previous Kaye staff’s success charges all the way down to match hers for post-consolidation work, with the historic larger charges rating solely after the proposed class.
Google’s broader argument was that the episode confirmed the category consultant had not had enough regard to the pursuits of the category, and that certification needs to be refused on that foundation. The Tribunal rejected it. It discovered that the argument doesn’t take sufficient account of the difficult state of affairs on the time, or of the truth that the Tribunal itself had requested the events to attempt to settle. The panel accepted Dr Brook’s proof that she thought-about the declare assembled underneath her management superior to the Kaye declare, that she had goal grounds to suppose so, and that she was confronted with a state of affairs through which the Kaye declare would possibly prevail on carriage absent settlement.
The panel additionally recorded some extent of confusion. Counsel for the category consultant stated throughout oral submissions that there was stress to achieve a decision as a result of it was thought the Tribunal would possibly criticise the events’ conduct. In line with the judgment, the panel didn’t actually perceive this, and defined that its earlier indication had been given as a result of the choice was shut and a few factors had fallen away, not as a sign of impending criticism. The Tribunal questioned whether or not, even when criticism was thought attainable, it was essentially applicable to make an settlement that elevated the burden on the proposed class by a probably vital quantity.
Persevering with loss and limitation
Two additional procedural points had been resolved in define and left for later formalisation.
On persevering with loss, Google objected to proposed amendments claiming class members’ losses with an open-ended finish date. The Tribunal didn’t have to resolve the underlying theoretical query as a result of the category consultant accepted it should restrict aid in order to say loss solely from the difficulty of the declare kind by way of to an outlined second earlier than trial, which it recommended could be the final case administration convention or the pre-trial evaluation. That strategy follows Kent v Apple [2026] CAT 1. Solely proposed class members who match the category definition and had a crystallised loss on the date of the ultimate amended declare kind will probably be included on certification.
After the July listening to and whereas the judgment was in preparation, one other panel gave a choice in Kent v Apple [2026] CAT 57 regarding the permissible interval for claiming losses, which Google drew to the Tribunal’s and the category consultant’s consideration by letters of 27 July 2026. Google reads that call as allowing losses to be claimed as much as the date of judgment however not past. The panel concluded nothing related had modified for its functions.
On limitation, Google pleaded that facets of the claims are time barred. The place differs between the standalone and follow-on components: the Related Interval is lowered by eight years for the standalone facets and by three and a half years for the follow-on declare, as the category consultant has accepted, topic to a degree about claims ruled by Scots legislation. The category consultant argues that underneath Scots legislation prescription doesn’t start to run till the offending conduct has ended, which means there is no such thing as a interval in respect of which no class member has a sound declare. Google disputes that evaluation and the events agreed it needs to be argued on the subsequent case administration convention.
The consequence is materials to the headline determine. In line with the judgment, it’s clear that the full declare worth is prone to be lowered appreciably from the place on the time of the declare kind and the category consultant’s preliminary proof, although the strategy is determined by the Scots legislation level. The Tribunal additionally famous an uncertainty over the diploma of pass-on, with the category consultant making use of what’s described as a conservative 50 per cent assumption, and stated it had borne the possible impression of limitation in thoughts when conducting the cost-benefit evaluation.
The category consultant has 14 days from the judgment to report in writing its positions on class definition, persevering with loss and limitation as taken on the listening to. New factors will not be raised, and Google could remark strictly on whether or not the letter correctly embodies what was stated.
Numbers that don’t line up
Three figures for the scale of the affected inhabitants seem throughout the paperwork, and they don’t agree.
The Tribunal’s discover of utility, revealed on the course of the Tribunal, states that the category consultant estimates roughly 250,000 advertisers fall inside the proposed class. The declare’s public FAQ web page repeats that determine, saying roughly 250,000 organisations that purchased search advertisements from Google are probably affected. The certification judgment, against this, refers to a category of the type of measurement concerned right here as being about 880,000 when discussing the sensible difficulties of a book-building train.
The judgment doesn’t clarify the hole, and neither does the discover. One believable studying is that the sooner determine displays an estimate made when the declare kind was filed in April 2025, earlier than Google’s personal information work, and that the later quantity displays a revised view of the cumulative inhabitants of advertisers throughout a fourteen-year interval quite than a point-in-time rely. That studying is inference, not one thing both doc states.
A separate reference level sits alongside each. In line with CMA paperwork cited when the regulator designated Google with Strategic Market Standing, between 200,000 and 300,000 distinctive entities used Google’s search promoting within the UK throughout 2024. A single-year rely in that vary is in step with a a lot bigger cumulative whole throughout 2011 to 2025, since advertisers enter and depart the market constantly. Neither the declare supplies nor the judgment reconciles the figures explicitly, and the discrepancy will matter to any distribution train, since per-member restoration relies upon straight on the denominator.
A smaller inconsistency runs by way of the claimant’s personal revealed supplies. The FAQ web page describes Dr Brook as an Affiliate Professor of Competitors Legislation and Coverage on the College of Legislation, College of Leeds. The About Us web page and the Tribunal’s discover each describe her as an Affiliate Professor of Competitors Legislation on the College of Oxford, with the discover including that she is a Fellow and Tutor at Pembroke School. The judgment doesn’t deal with her affiliation.
The UK regulatory backdrop
The declare proceeds towards a home regulatory place that has hardened over the identical interval.
The CMA launched its first strategic market status investigation under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on 14 January 2025, analyzing Google Search. It designated Google with Strategic Market Status on 30 September 2025, discovering substantial and entrenched market energy normally search companies and search promoting. The designation runs for an preliminary 5 years and covers Google Search accessed by way of any medium, together with AI Overviews and AI Mode, alongside Google Adverts and Search Adverts 360 once they present search promoting.
The economics the regulator recorded monitor the interval lined by the declare. In line with the CMA, Google accounts for greater than 90 per cent of all normal search queries within the UK, and UK search promoting spending almost doubled from £8 billion in 2019 to £15 billion in 2023. Google’s public response, published on 10 October 2025 by Oliver Bethell, its senior director of competition, put Google Search’s contribution to UK financial exercise at £118 billion in 2023 and warned in regards to the tempo and scope of recent guidelines.
The primary binding obligation underneath the designation, the Publisher Conduct Requirement, was imposed on 4 June 2026, with substantive management obligations coming into power on 3 December 2026. That instrument issues writer content material in generative AI merchandise quite than promoting pricing, however it establishes that the designation carries operative penalties quite than remaining a label.
The Tribunal’s personal catalogue of Google-related proceedings has grown alongside. Past Stopford and the now-stayed Kaye declare, the CMA issued a statement of objections in its separate ad tech investigation on 6 September 2024, and the European Commission’s ad tech decision, fining Google 2.95 billion euros, was published in redacted form in January 2026.
What certification adjustments for advertisers and businesses
The fast sensible impact of an opt-out order is that inclusion is automated. Any UK-domiciled advertiser that paid for Google search promoting throughout the Related Interval, whether or not it purchased straight or by way of an company, is a category member until it takes optimistic steps to take away itself by a date the Tribunal will set. Class members will probably be sure by any judgment on the widespread points and won’t be able to convey particular person claims elevating the identical points.
Media businesses occupy a particular place. They’re expressly excluded from the category, for the reason that declare is for the advertisers whose cash was spent quite than for the intermediaries who positioned the buys. On the identical time, the distribution mannequin the Tribunal accepted assumes company cooperation in figuring out and reaching shoppers whose spend handed by way of company accounts. The unanswered query about whether or not the distinctive identifiers used when businesses place commercials with Google map again to particular person advertisers just isn’t a technicality; it determines how a lot of the category might be reached from Google’s personal information and not using a guide reconstruction train.
The widespread points to be decided are set out within the Tribunal’s discover: the definition of the related markets; whether or not Google held and continues to carry a dominant place on these markets; whether or not Google abused and continues to abuse that place, together with by way of the alleged exclusionary conduct; whether or not any abuse brought on class members loss and harm; the quantification of any combination award; and the premise, charge and period of curiosity.
No cash is offered now, and there’s no assure any will turn out to be obtainable. The declare should be gained at trial or settled earlier than any distribution query turns into stay. In line with the declare’s revealed supplies, the funding is offered by Burford Capital, which has dedicated as much as £40 million payable in tranches, with the category consultant additionally holding an indemnity towards antagonistic prices, which means class members face no monetary publicity. The declare’s FAQ estimates the case will take two to a few years, which it describes as normal for collective actions.
For advertisers watching a number of jurisdictions directly, the UK proceedings now sit inside a wider sample of personal claims following public enforcement. In the US, Keller Postman announced a mass arbitration campaign on 11 May 2026 targeting alleged advertising overcharges on behalf of thousands of US businesses, following law firms recruiting advertiser plaintiffs from October 2025 and a New York court granting partial summary judgment on 27 October 2025 that gave preclusive effect to earlier monopolisation findings. Competing advert tech corporations have filed their very own follow-on actions, amongst them OpenX in August 2025, Raptive in October 2025 and Teads on 3 August 2026. Google individually updated its Google Ads terms of service on 1 July 2026, eradicating the arbitration requirement in unspecified markets.
The distinguishing function of the UK declare is what it targets. The US advert tech instances concern open-web show intermediation. The Brook proceedings concern the worth of promoting on Google’s personal search outcomes pages, which is the one largest line merchandise in most UK efficiency advertising and marketing budgets. In a LinkedIn submit revealed after the ruling, Or Brook described the declare as the primary case of its type within the UK looking for redress for the direct hurt brought on to companies pressured to pay heightened costs for promoting house on Google search outcomes pages.
What occurs subsequent
The Tribunal granted the collective proceedings order on an opt-out foundation, discovered each the authorisation and eligibility situations met, and dominated that Google just isn’t answerable for the prices of the carriage dispute in any occasion.
A number of issues return to the Tribunal. The category consultant should file its formalising letter inside 14 days. The Scots legislation limitation level will probably be argued on the subsequent case administration convention, after which quantum calculations must be redone and instructions given for that work. A joint case administration convention overlaying each these proceedings and Stopford will deal with deduplication of authorized and professional groups, the use and price of the consultative panel, and the useful resource limits the Tribunal has stated it firmly intends to impose. The questions of whether or not the funder could earn a return on carriage dispute prices, and whether or not the previous Kaye staff could take success charges on pre-consolidation work, had been deferred quite than resolved.
The domicile date, the opt-out deadline and the mechanics of notification all stay to be set. Till then, the sensible place for UK advertisers that purchased Google search advertisements between January 2011 and April 2025 is that they’re already in.
Timeline
Abstract
Who: Or Brook Class Consultant Restricted, a particular objective car whose sole director and member is Dr Or Brook, performing as class consultant for UK-domiciled advertisers, towards Alphabet Inc, Google LLC, Google Eire Restricted, Google UK Restricted, Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd and Google Commerce Restricted. The Tribunal panel comprised Mr Justice Meade as chair, John Davies and Robert Herga. Kieron Beal KC and Ali Al-Karim appeared for the category consultant, instructed by Geradin Companions Restricted and KP Legislation Restricted; Sarah Abram KC, Alfred Artley and Edmund Eustace appeared for Google, instructed by Simmons & Simmons LLP.
What: The Competitors Enchantment Tribunal granted a collective proceedings order on an opt-out foundation in case 1720/7/7/25, permitting an combination damages declare estimated by the category consultant’s professional economist at round £5 billion to proceed to trial. The Tribunal additionally dominated that Google just isn’t answerable for the prices of the sooner carriage dispute, deferred questions in regards to the funder’s return on these prices and about success charges, and required the category consultant to formalise its positions on class definition, persevering with loss and limitation inside 14 days.
When: The judgment is dated 5 August 2026, following a listening to on 8 July 2026 and an utility dated 15 April 2025. The category covers promoting bought between 1 January 2011 and 15 April 2025.
The place: The Competitors Enchantment Tribunal, Salisbury Sq. Home, 8 Salisbury Sq., London EC4Y 8AP, sitting as a Tribunal in England and Wales. The category is restricted to advertisers domiciled in the UK on a domicile date nonetheless to be decided.
Why: The declare alleges that Google abused dominant positions throughout licensable good cell working programs, Android app shops, normal search companies and search engine administration companies, foreclosing competitors normally search and search promoting and permitting it to cost supra-competitive costs for search advertisements whereas lowering their worth. The Tribunal discovered the claims should not weak, that an opt-in train throughout a category of about 880,000 could be gradual, would lose a good portion of the mixture declare and would delay the parallel shopper proceedings, and that direct distribution utilizing Google’s personal information might attain way over the 1 per cent take-up Google projected.
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