Advertisers prepare mass claims

Advertisers are preparing mass arbitration claims against Google that could seek billions of dollars over search and display ad purchases. (searchengineland.com) Attorney Ashley Keller told Search Engine Land the first filings were expected this week, and he said he had already signed up a “significant number” of advertisers. His firm’s economic analysis estimated potential claims above $218 billion, an upper-bound figure rather than a court award or settlement. (searchengineland.com) The claims are tied to two federal antitrust cases against Google. In August 2024, a judge in Washington found Google illegally maintained monopolies in general search and search text advertising, and on April 17, 2025, a judge in Virginia held that Google violated antitrust law in open-web digital advertising markets. (justice.gov 1) (justice.gov 2) Mass arbitration means filing many individual arbitration cases at once instead of one class action in court. Search Engine Land said Google’s advertiser contracts generally require arbitration, and Keller said that structure could let smaller advertisers pursue claims they would not bring one by one. (searchengineland.com) That path opened further in January 2025, when U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in New York sent two advertisers’ antitrust claims to arbitration after finding they had accepted Google’s terms of service. The dispute turned on a September 2017 terms update that added an arbitration clause with a 30-day opt-out. (mediapost.com) (blog.ericgoldman.org) The advertiser push comes as courts and regulators have already moved from liability to remedies in Google’s search case. On September 2, 2025, the Justice Department said the court barred Google from maintaining certain exclusive distribution contracts and ordered it to share some search data and syndication access with rivals. (justice.gov) Google is appealing the monopoly rulings, and Search Engine Land reported that the company said in a recent filing it could not yet estimate potential losses from private damages claims tied to antitrust cases. The company also said it believes it has strong arguments and plans to defend itself aggressively. (searchengineland.com) If the filings arrive this week, the fight shifts from headline antitrust rulings to thousands of ad buyers trying to turn those rulings into cash claims. Keller told Search Engine Land that similar mass arbitration campaigns usually take 12 to 24 months to resolve. (searchengineland.com)