A Belgian court has ordered Google to pay €76 million to Proxistore, a company specializing in online ad campaigns.
Since 2011, Proxistore has had a geolocation-based ad system in place. This allows companies to launch local ad campaigns on international websites and platforms. Proxistore obtained a Belgian patent for its technology in 2016, and a European patent followed in 2017.
For reasons unknown, Google blocked Proxistore’s advertising campaigns on February 1st and 12th, 2025. The blockage is said to have lasted 76 hours. Proxistore wasn’t going to let this slide and decided to file a lawsuit against Google.
In addition to ending the blockade and resuming its ad services, the Belgian ad company demanded a penalty of €1 million for every hour its advertising campaigns were blocked.
Last week, the Belgian court ruled in favor of Proxistore and ordered Citibank to freeze the amount of €76 million from Google Ireland Limited’s account, Google’s European parent company based in Dublin. If Google doesn’t pay the amount willingly, the money will automatically be transferred to the Belgian start-up within fourteen days, according to Le Soir.
Google isn’t exactly happy with the verdict and has called it “a unilateral action.”
“We will vigorously defend ourselves and comment before the courts on the fact that Proxistore has not paid the invoices due on time,” a Google spokesperson told the Belgian news outlet.
Proxistore has formally contested these remarks. “The courts have had access to all the information exchanged between us. Nothing has been hidden, and the courts have ruled in our favor (…) With a bilateral procedure, Proxistore would never have been able to get out of the judicial delays that Google is so fond of,” a company spokesperson said.
Google can, and probably will, appeal the court’s verdict.
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