Tech giant Google is under legal fire in the United Kingdom, facing a massive £5 billion ($6.6 billion) class-action lawsuit over claims that it used its dominant position in online search to suppress competition and extract inflated profits from advertisers.

The case, filed at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, is being led by legal expert Or Brook and backed by the law firm Geradin Partners. It represents an estimated 250,000 UK-based businesses that have relied on Google's search advertising services since 2011.

According to the claim, Google's dominance has been systematically reinforced through a series of anti-competitive practices. The US company is accused of marginalizing rival search engines and turning its platform into the de facto advertising space by creating artificial barriers to entry and choice. As CNBC reported, Google "made deals with smartphone makers to pre-install Google Search and the Chrome browser on Android devices, and paid Apple billions of dollars to make Google the default search engine in the Safari browser."  

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Or Brook, one of the case's lead representatives, stated, "Regulators around the world have described Google as a monopoly, and securing a spot on Google's top pages is essential for visibility. Google has been leveraging its dominance in the general search and search advertising market to overcharge advertisers."

In response, a Google spokesperson dismissed the case as "yet another speculative and opportunistic claim," adding that "consumers and advertisers use Google because it is helpful, not because they are forced to."

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The lawsuit surfaces at a time of heightened regulatory scrutiny. On January 23, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched formal investigations into both Google and Apple to assess the extent to which their integrated ecosystems, dominated by Android and iOS, limit competition in mobile operating systems, app stores, and browsers.

"All mobile devices sold in the UK have iOS or Android pre-installed," the CMA said in a public statement, noting that these platforms "can significantly affect most of the content, services and apps users download on their devices." The investigation could lead to the imposition of "Strategic Market Status" on the companies, subjecting them to tougher regulations.