Rumble, one of the most prominent competitors to YouTube, has launched a new legal challenge against Google and its parent company, Alphabet.
This lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California—the same court where Rumble’s earlier case was initiated—seeks damages exceeding $1 billion from Google. These damages pertain to lost advertising revenue, alleging that Google misused its dominant position in advertising technology to undercut Rumble’s competitive edge.
The company contends that Google’s actions have deprived it of significant ad earnings. Rumble, once a Google ad client before developing its proprietary ad technology in 2022, asserts that Google’s monopolistic behavior has manipulated the ad tech market to its own advantage.
Reclaim The Net obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.
According to the complaint, “Google exploits significant conflicts of interest that stem from its multiple roles in this electronically traded marketplace.”
It further accuses Google of skimming an undue share of advertising revenue, which should rightfully benefit publishers like Rumble and its content creators.
This is not Rumble’s first legal foray against the tech giant. In 2021, it accused Google of illegally prioritizing YouTube content in its search engine and Android operating system, a case that is still underway following a favorable ruling against Google’s dismissal motion.
The filing goes on to detail Google’s alleged antitrust violations, including “unlawful tying arrangements, a pattern and practice of exclusionary conduct targeting actual and potential rivals, and even a market allocation and price-fixing agreement with Facebook, at one time its largest potential competitive threat in the publisher ad server and ad network markets.”
The lawsuit filed by Rumble against Google revolves around several key complaints regarding antitrust violations and unfair competition in the ad tech industry. Here’s a summary of the main issues outlined in the complaint:
Monopoly Abuse in Ad Tech: Rumble alleges that Google has maintained and abused monopoly power in various sectors of the online advertising market. This includes controlling large portions of the ad tech stack such as ad servers, ad exchanges, and ad networks, which has disadvantaged Rumble and its potential ad revenue. For instance, the complaint details, “Google has been able to garner a monopolist’s share of the advertising markets, and with it, a monopolist’s profits at the expense of Rumble and its content creators, of consumers and of competition.”
Anticompetitive Practices: The lawsuit accuses Google of engaging in practices such as unlawful tying, exclusionary conduct, and entering into agreements that disadvantage competitors. Notably, the complaint mentions a deal with Facebook (referred to as the “Jedi Blue Agreement”) to obstruct competition from header bidding technologies, stating that “Ultimately, Google and Facebook reached an agreement, known within Google as the Jedi Blue Agreement, that removed Facebook from header bidding.”
Specific Harm to Rumble: Rumble claims that Google’s practices have directly harmed its business by reducing the ad revenue it could generate from its video platform. The complaint elaborates on Google’s strategies that effectively forced Rumble to use Google’s ad technologies under unfavorable terms, which limited Rumble’s ability to compete and generate revenue: “Google’s conduct in this regard has not only harmed Rumble but also its content creators and other similarly situated online video platforms.”
Damages and Injunctive Relief: Rumble seeks both monetary damages and injunctive relief. They claim damages believed to amount to over $1 billion US before trebling, indicating the immense scale of the perceived harm.
