Google is facing a new legal challenge in Europe, with private damages claims that could total as much as $10 billion after years of regulatory action against the technology giant over alleged anti-competitive practices.
The lawsuits, filed by smaller rivals across several European countries, follow decades of scrutiny by European regulators and come after the company lost its first case under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), paving the way for more businesses to seek compensation.
The latest development follows a $1 billion fine imposed on Google under the DMA for allegedly favouring its own services and restricting app developers from directing users to cheaper purchasing options outside its Google Play app store.
Legal experts say the ruling could encourage more companies to pursue damages.
“I think this will trigger a new wave of litigation,” said Thomas Höppner, a partner at Geradin Partners, which advised German price comparison platform Idealo in a market abuse case.
According to Höppner, specialised search firms may seek compensation not only for breaches under the DMA but also for earlier conduct under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits abuse of a dominant market position.
Google dismissed the lawsuits, arguing they are without merit.
“We strongly disagree with these lawsuits, which are brought by companies looking for a payout instead of investing in their own products,” a Google spokesperson said.
The legal claims come as Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is increasing spending on artificial intelligence. The investment push has weighed on its finances, with Alphabet reporting negative free cash flow in the second quarter for the first time since becoming a public company.
The company is also dealing with more than €10.4 billion in EU antitrust fines imposed over the past decade as regulators continue to tighten oversight of major technology firms.
Google’s legal troubles date back to 2008, when it began prominently displaying its own comparison shopping service in search results. Rival price comparison websites said the practice sharply reduced their web traffic, prompting complaints that led to a European Commission investigation.
That investigation resulted in a €2.42 billion antitrust fine in 2017, a decision Google unsuccessfully challenged before Europe’s highest court last year.
Several companies have since pursued damages claims based on that ruling.
In November, a Berlin court awarded German comparison shopping platform Idealo €465 million ($528.9 million) in damages, one of the largest antitrust awards ever granted by a German court.
British comparison shopping site Foundem has continued its long-running legal challenge, while Swedish price comparison platform PriceRunner, backed by Klarna, filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit in 2022 after Google’s appeal against the EU shopping decision was rejected.
UK-based price comparison website Kelkoo, which is seeking billions of pounds in damages, said the latest DMA ruling strengthens ongoing legal claims.
“We expect these to be impacted somewhat by the DMA decision because it shows that Google is still self-referencing even to this day,” Kelkoo Chief Executive Richard Stables told Reuters, adding that the latest decision gives other claimants stronger grounds to sue.
Litigation financing firms are also preparing to back additional claims.
Matej Pardo, Chief Operating Officer of litigation funder LitFin, which supports two groups suing Google in Amsterdam over shopping auctions and seeking more than $1 billion combined, said more cases are already being prepared.
“There are already a lot of these claims being filed, and probably more that are being prepared,” he said.
Google’s latest penalties mark the fifth and sixth antitrust fines imposed against the company by European authorities. Last month, the company also lost its appeal against a record €4.1 billion EU fine relating to its Android mobile operating system, after regulators found it had used the platform to stifle competition.
Marco Pescarmona, chairman of Moltiply Group, another complainant against Google, said the DMA provides a powerful legal framework but questioned whether regulators are enforcing it aggressively enough.
“The DMA is a very good piece of legislation. The defect maybe is that it’s so effective that they’re afraid to use it,” he said.
Despite the growing number of lawsuits, legal experts say Google may continue to benefit from lengthy court processes. The company could still challenge the latest DMA fine, while appeals in competition cases often take years to conclude.
LitFin’s Pardo noted that almost two decades elapsed between the alleged shopping search abuses and the exhaustion of Google’s appeals.
“By that time, they’ve already monopolised many markets,” he said, describing regulatory fines as “a cost of doing business” and warning that some cases could take up to eight years to resolve.
In one of the latest rulings, a Stockholm court in July ordered Google to pay approximately $1.97 billion, including interest, in the PriceRunner case. Although Klarna welcomed the decision, its legal counsel, Pontus Scherp, said the company does not expect payment anytime soon because Google is expected to appeal.
“We can expect an appeal to take over a year, and likely years,” Scherp said.
