Something to look forward to: Google's online empire is under pressure from both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, regulators aim to break up the company, while in Europe, businesses are demanding damages over its alleged abuse of dominance in the price comparison market.
Google faces civil lawsuits totaling at least €12 billion (over $13 billion) in Europe following a European Commission ruling that it violated antitrust rules through its price comparison service. Brussels fined the company $2.72 billion in 2017, but online shopping firms are now pursuing additional damages through separate legal actions.
Bloomberg recently identified 12 civil cases across seven European countries tied to the 2017 antitrust ruling. While the full value of the lawsuits remains unclear, nine disclosed claims already exceed $13 billion. Google has weathered a growing wave of litigation in recent years, and more companies could follow if current cases succeed.
Some claims involve a few hundred million dollars, while others exceed the billion-dollar mark, including Idealo in Germany ($3.9 billion), Trovaprezzi in Italy ($3.3 billion), and Pricerunner in Sweden ($2.35 billion). Plaintiffs argue that Google diverted online traffic from rival price comparison services by exploiting its dominance in search, a behavior that continues despite the 2017 antitrust fine.
Google maintains it did nothing wrong and has dismissed the new lawsuits as baseless. Courts will soon put that stance to the test. A judge in London is currently reviewing claims from Kelkoo and the now-defunct site Foundem, while a court in Amsterdam hears Compare Group's arguments in September.
Furthermore, new lawsuits over Google's alleged antitrust violations continue to emerge. Last month, several European companies filed a $1 billion claim in Amsterdam, while Italy's Moltiply Group SA alleged that Google caused $3.3 billion in losses to the shopping site Trovaprezzi between 2010 and 2017.
Idealo co-founder Albrecht von Sonntag says internet monopolies like Google's ultimately harm customers, competition, and the European economy. In February, Idealo raised its damage estimate from $559 million to $3.7 billion. A Google spokesman rejected the lawsuits, accusing the plaintiffs of chasing quick profits rather than building successful products.