Google is Facing a New Wave of EU Lawsuits

Google is entering a new and potentially more expensive chapter in its long-running battle with European regulators, as last week’s landmark antitrust ruling is expected to trigger a fresh wave of lawsuits from rivals seeking billions of dollars in damages.

After years of battling record fines imposed by the European Union, Alphabet’s Google now faces a growing number of private claims from price comparison websites, app developers and other competitors who argue the company’s business practices cost them customers, revenue and market share. Lawyers and litigation funders say the latest regulatory decision could significantly strengthen those cases by providing fresh evidence that Google continued to favor its own services despite years of scrutiny.

The development marks a shift in Europe’s campaign against Big Tech. Regulatory fines, once viewed as the principal deterrent, are increasingly being followed by private lawsuits that seek compensation for businesses claiming they were harmed by anti-competitive conduct.

The latest catalyst was a $1 billion fine imposed under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the first penalty issued under the landmark legislation. Regulators concluded that Google favored its own services and prevented app developers from directing users to cheaper purchasing options outside the Google Play app store.

Competition lawyers say the decision could become a powerful legal tool for companies already suing Google and encourage new plaintiffs to join.

“I think this will trigger a new wave of litigation,” said Thomas Hoppner, a partner at Geradin Partners, which advised German price comparison platform Idealo for market abuse.

The ruling may also expand the time period for which companies seek compensation.

“Specialised search firms may seek damages, possibly not just for the period of the DMA but also for the years prior to the DMA breaches” under Article 102, Hoppner added, referring to older EU legislation prohibiting companies from abusing a dominant market position.

Google rejected the accusations.

“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.

A second financial threat

The private litigation comes at a challenging time for Google’s parent company.

Alphabet is investing tens of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence infrastructure, contributing to negative free cash flow during the second quarter for the first time since becoming a public company. Investors have become increasingly cautious about the costs of building AI data centers and purchasing advanced semiconductors, putting pressure on technology stocks across global markets.

Those financial pressures coincide with an expanding legal challenge in Europe.

Since 2017, Google has accumulated €10.4 billion in European Union antitrust fines covering its shopping service, Android mobile operating system and online advertising practices. While those penalties were paid to governments, private lawsuits seek compensation directly for businesses that argue Google’s conduct damaged their commercial prospects.

Lawyers involved in the cases say more claims are being prepared across Europe.

From regulators to courtrooms

Much of the current litigation stems from Google’s shopping comparison service.

Competitors complained that after Google began prominently displaying its own shopping results in search pages in 2008, traffic to rival comparison websites declined sharply. The complaints eventually led to a €2.42 billion European Commission fine in 2017, a decision Google unsuccessfully challenged through the European courts.

The regulatory victories have encouraged competitors to pursue compensation.

German comparison platform Idealo secured €465 million ($528.9 million) in damages from a Berlin court last November, one of Germany’s largest antitrust awards.

Britain’s Foundem has pursued legal action for years, while Sweden’s PriceRunner, backed by Klarna, filed a multibillion-dollar lawsuit after Google’s final appeal against the shopping decision failed.

Kelkoo, another comparison shopping company pursuing damages claims worth billions of pounds, believes last week’s DMA decision strengthens its case.

“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 said, adding the DMA decision gave others more ground to sue.

Litigation financing firms, which bankroll complex legal cases in exchange for a share of potential awards, also expect the pace of claims to accelerate.

“There are already a lot of these claims being filed, and probably more that are (being) prepared,” said Matej Pardo, chief operating officer at LitFin, which is backing two groups suing Google in Amsterdam over shopping auctions and seeking more than $1 billion combined.

Italy’s Moltiply Group, owner of price comparison platform Trovaprezzi.it, is separately seeking €2.97 billion in damages.

Europe raises the pressure

The DMA decision is Google’s fifth and sixth major European antitrust penalty.

Last month, the company also lost its appeal against a record €4.1 billion fine over Android, with judges upholding regulators’ conclusion that Google used its mobile operating system to reinforce the dominance of its search engine.

For companies that brought the original complaints, the latest decision demonstrates that regulatory intervention remains necessary.

“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,” said Marco Pescarmona, chairman of Moltiply Group.

Some lawyers argue that lengthy appeals reduce the practical impact of competition enforcement because markets often change before final judgments are delivered.

Google could still challenge the latest DMA fine, and many of the private damages cases are expected to take years before reaching final resolution.

“By that time, they’ve already monopolised many markets,” said LitFin’s Pardo, calling the fines “a cost of doing business”, adding wait times could be up to eight years.

That timeline is already familiar to companies pursuing claims.

In Sweden, a court this month ordered Google to pay approximately $1.97 billion, including interest, to PriceRunner. Yet even supporters of the ruling expect the dispute to continue through the appeals process.

“We can expect an appeal to take over a year, and likely years,” said Klarna counsel Pontus Scherp.

A new phase of antitrust enforcement

For much of the past decade, Europe’s campaign against Big Tech has relied on regulatory investigations and increasingly large financial penalties.

The next phase may unfold not in Brussels but in national courtrooms across the continent.

The DMA gives regulators broader powers to police digital “gatekeepers,” but it also provides businesses with stronger legal foundations to argue that anti-competitive conduct caused measurable commercial harm. As more companies test those arguments before national courts, private damages actions could become as significant a financial risk for technology giants as regulatory fines themselves.

For Google, the legal battle is increasingly about limiting compensation claims that could stretch into the billions of dollars and continue long after regulatory decisions have been handed down.

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