Google loses appeal and has to pay €76M to Proxistore for blocking ad campaigns

A Belgian court has ruled that Google has to pay a €76 million penalty to the Belgian startup Proxistore for blocking online advertising campaigns.

The case revolves around Proxistore, a company from Wallonia, Belgium, that specializes in online ad campaigns. Google blocked Proxistore’s advertising campaign accounts for 76 hours between February 1st and 12th, 2025. According to Proxistore, the internet conglomerate did this for no apparent reason.

The Belgian advertising company 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 company demanded a penalty of €1 million for every hour its advertising campaign accounts were blocked.

In March, a Belgian court agreed with Proxistore and ruled that Google had to pay a total of €76 million.

The American tech company strongly disagreed with the ruling and decided to appeal the court’s decision at the commercial court of Nijvel. Google stated that Proxistore had repeatedly failed to pay invoices on time, which Proxistore denies.

Unfortunately for Google, the commercial court of Nijvel decided to uphold the previous verdict and ruled that Google’s appeal was unfounded.

“We are disappointed that the court failed to take into account Proxistore’s ongoing payment delays and the excessive response to this commercial dispute,” Google responded to Belgian news outlet VRT News. A spokesperson has confirmed that the company will once again appeal the verdict.

Proxistore, on the other hand, says it hasn’t received the penalty of €76 million yet and is therefore taking legal steps to obtain the money.