Advertisers move against Google

Advertisers are lining up mass arbitration claims against Google after two federal antitrust defeats gave them a new legal opening. (bloomberg.com) Bloomberg reported on April 13 that the claims could reach into the billions of dollars and include companies that bought ads through Google, including USA Today Co. and Advance Publications Inc. The cases are being organized as individual arbitrations filed at scale, rather than one class action in court. (bloomberg.com, classaction.org) That route exists because Google’s advertising terms require arbitration, and judges have recently steered advertiser disputes there. In March 2026, a federal judge sent PVC Fence Wholesaler’s paid-search dispute with Google to arbitration, extending a pattern set in earlier advertiser cases. (mediapost.com, mediapost.com) The legal backdrop is two separate federal rulings. On August 8, 2024, Judge Amit Mehta ruled in Washington that Google illegally maintained monopolies in general search and search text advertising, and on September 2, 2025, he imposed remedies that barred certain exclusive distribution contracts and required Google to share some search data and syndication access with rivals. (justice.gov, congress.gov) A second case hit Google’s ad-tech stack, the software that helps websites sell ad space and helps buyers and sellers match up in milliseconds. On April 17, 2025, Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized the publisher ad server market and the ad exchange market, and unlawfully tied those products together, while rejecting a separate claim over advertiser ad networks. (justice.gov, justice.gov, oag.ca.gov) Those rulings are now feeding private claims from both sides of the market. Publishers have already filed follow-on suits, and advertiser lawyers have been pitching brands on possible recoveries tied to Google ad spending dating back years. (bloomberglaw.com, ppc.land) Google has said it disagrees with the ad-tech decision and plans to appeal. Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said after the April 2025 ruling that the company “won half of this case” because the court rejected claims about advertiser tools and acquisitions such as DoubleClick. (techcrunch.com, nbcnews.com) The business pressure is arriving as market-share forecasts are shifting too. Emarketer said Meta is on track to surpass Google in worldwide digital ad revenue in 2026, with Meta forecast at $243.46 billion and 26.1% share, versus Google at $242.39 billion and 26.0%. (marketingdive.com, kfgo.com) That combination leaves Google fighting on two fronts at once: appeals over how its ad systems were built, and a growing line of advertisers arguing they paid too much to use them. (bloomberg.com, justice.gov)