The Daily Mail, which operates one of the most popular news websites in the world and the third-largest print newspaper by circulation in the UK, is suing Google over allegations that it discriminates against certain news companies in its search results.
Breitbart News revealed data last year showing that Google suppresses news outlets in its search results for political reasons. The Daily Mail’s lawsuit alleges that Google retaliates against news companies for commercial purposes as well.
via the Wall Street Journal:
In the suit brought by the Mail’s owner, Associated Newspapers Ltd., and its U.S. unit, Mail Media Inc., the publisher alleges Google linked its search engine and ad-sales platform to put pressure on publishers, abusing its market power.
In 2019, Google punished the Daily Mail in its search results because the publisher had configured its online ad sales in a way that sent its business away from Google in many instances, according to the complaint. Google later tweaked its technology to counteract that tactic and restored the Daily Mail’s normal search performance, the suit alleges.
More recently, Daily Mail executives have been disappointed that the site’s coverage of the royal family has not shown up prominently in search results for keywords such as “Meghan and Harry,” “Piers Morgan” and “Prince Philip,” the spokesman for the publisher said.
The lawsuit also alleges that Google gives its own online ad exchange advantages over competitors in online ad auctions, and that the company’s plan to phase out advertising “cookies” will force advertisers to buy ads through Google’s systems rather than its competitors. Breitbart News previously covered Google’s plans to phase out advertising cookies here.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.