Google, over 12 billion euros in civil lawsuits in Europe - The company is accused of violating competition laws
Google is facing a wave of civil lawsuits totaling at least 12 billion euros. Bloomberg News has identified 12 ongoing civil cases in seven European countries, according to reports. While not all courts and parties were willing to disclose the total amount, the value of nine lawsuits exceeds 12 billion euros.
The amounts in these lawsuits often exceed EU fines for the same activity, said a law professor at the University of Düsseldorf. The lawsuits also exacerbate the company's legal problems at a time when the U.S. Justice Department is trying to force it to split off key parts of its advertising and search businesses after losses in two competition cases.
Google reportedly says the civil lawsuits in Europe have no merit. The company itself declined to say how many lawsuits have been filed or what amounts were involved.
Many of these cases will soon be heard in court. In late June, a London judge will hear a £1 billion lawsuit from British website Kelkoo and Foundem. In September, a court in Amsterdam will hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by Dutch company Compare Group.
In addition, two hearings are scheduled in Hamburg in October, and judges in Berlin have scheduled two more in November, including a 3.3 billion euro case brought by Idealo, owned by Axel Springer. Google is also facing a 2.1 billion euro lawsuit from Swedish website Pricerunner.
At the same time, new lawsuits continue to mount. Last month, a €900 million lawsuit was filed in Amsterdam on behalf of several companies. Last week, Italian company Moltiply Group SA asked Google for €2.97 billion in damages it allegedly suffered from its Trovaprezzi website between 2010 and 2017.
Since then, some plaintiffs have increased their claims and brought in outside funders. They argue that Google continues to violate competition laws, manipulating search results and failing to comply with a 2017 EU order. This, they say, has allowed the tech giant to unfairly dominate internet traffic and profits.
In addition to the civil lawsuits, the EU has also fined the company around €8 billion since 2017 for violating competition laws, although some of these decisions have been overturned. In addition to the €2.4 billion fine for the price comparison ruling, Google was fined €4.34 billion and €1.49 billion for practices related to its Android operating system and advertising contracts.
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