Google Seeks To Change The Rules As Advertisers File Arbitration Demands Asserting Antitrust Claims

Earlier this month, Google informed at least some U.S. advertisers that it plans to change Google’s advertising terms and conditions effective July 1, 2026. Google’s proposed changes include significant revisions to the dispute resolution and arbitration provisions: 

• Google added a “batch arbitration” provision, where if "25 or more substantially similar Demands are filed against Google by or with the help of an entity or coordinated group of entities,” then they will be “batched” into groups of up to 100, with a single arbitrator and single award for each “batch.”
• Google added that the parties “bear their own attorneys’ fees and costs in arbitration” except that Google may ask for fees and costs if “either the substance of the dispute or the relief sought in the Demand was frivolous or was brought for an improper purpose.”