Alphabet Faces New Wave of Lawsuits Worth $10 Billion After EU Fine

The American corporation Alphabet, owner of Google, is facing a new wave of legal battles in Europe amounting to up to $10 billion following a $1 billion fine for violating the EU Digital Markets Act. Competitors are seeking compensation for abuse of monopoly power and violations of the DMA regulations. In Germany, the Berlin court awarded the service Idealo €465 million ($528.9 million) — the largest amount awarded for antitrust violations in the country. In the UK, multi-billion dollar lawsuits are ongoing with the service Kelkoo and the founders of Foundem. In Sweden, the company PriceRunner won a ruling in the Stockholm court for $1.97 billion plus interest. In Italy, the group Moltiply Group is seeking €2.97 billion through the courts. In the Netherlands, the law firm LitFin is supporting two groups of plaintiffs with claims exceeding $1 billion. Google denies all allegations, claiming that the plaintiffs are seeking easy payouts instead of investing in their own products. New financial claims arise during a challenging period for the company, as costs for developing artificial intelligence infrastructure have led to negative free cash flow in the second quarter.