Mailonline Sues Google For Allegedly Hiding Links To Its Articles
https://www.theguardian.comMailOnline is suing Google after alleging the search engine hides links to its articles on topics such as “Meghan Markle” and “Piers Morgan”, setting up a legal battle between one of the world’s biggest news websites and the tech giant.
Google is accused by MailOnline of having too much control over the online advertising market and of systematically downgrading links to its stories in favour of other sites, citing coverage of the royal family.
British users searching for Piers Morgan’s comments on the Duchess of Sussex last month were substantially more likely to see articles about him produced by smaller regional outlets such as the Manchester Evening News and Newcastle Chronicle, MailOnline claimed.
n the lawsuit, filed in New York and described as “worthless” by Google, MailOnline alleges it is being punished by Google News’s algorithm after attempting to reduce its reliance on Google’s separate tools for selling online advertising.
Google said it would be fighting the lawsuit. “The Daily Mail’s claims are completely inaccurate. The use of our ad tech tools has no bearing on how a publisher’s website ranks in Google search.