The News Media Alliance (NMA) has praised a coalition of more than 30 European media companies for filing a lawsuit seeking €2.1 billion in damages against Google for “anti-competitive practices” in the advertising technology marketplace.

NMA is a trade association which represents around 2,000 newspapers across the US and Canada.

“This case, together with the numerous other investigations and cases around the world, lays bare the damage that Google’s dominant position and anti-competitive practices have inflicted on publishers of all sizes,” said Danielle Coffey, president and chief executive of NMA. “We must support steps to restore a truly competitive AdTech marketplace.”

The coalition organisations issued a statement on the matter last week, stating they had decided to consolidate their claims for compensation against Google, alleging it had for many years “exploited its dominant position in the market”.

The statement went on to say that the coalition had chosen to file a lawsuit against Google in the Netherlands, a key jurisdiction for antitrust damages claims in Europe, taking this centralised approach in order to eliminate the “necessity for multiple claims in different European countries, with the risk of inconsistencies and spiralling costs.”

It follows similar investigations and cases concerning Google’s practices launched previously in France, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

A US federal judge recently ruled that Google will face a jury trial in September over similar accusations that the company had abused its advertising dominance.

The lawsuit, previously filed in January 2023, accused Google of abusing its dominance in digital advertising technology, stating that the company has undermined competition by monopolising the market for digital advertising.

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