1 minute read | June.30.2026
Three leading French news publishers – Prisma Media, Le Figaro and Les Echos Le Parisien – secured a major result involving Google, with the Paris Commercial Court (Tribunal des Activités Économiques) ordering Google to pay approximately €107 million in total damages, including statutory interest as ordered by the Court, for losses tied to anticompetitive conduct in the online advertising sector.
Orrick represented the three publishers.
Prisma Media, Le Figaro, and Les Echos Le Parisien are leading French news publishers whose business models largely depend on digital advertising revenue. They pursued follow-on damages claims after the French Competition Authority found, in Decision n° 21-D-11 dated June 7, 2021, that Google abused its dominant position in the market for ad servers used by websites and mobile app publishers. In that decision, the Authority fined Google €220 million for the conduct.
These latest judgments (which may be appealed) build on an October 2024 decision ordering Google to pay Equativ approximately €27 million* in the first French follow-on judgment arising from the same Competition Authority decision.
Together, the four decisions obtained by Orrick against Google in the adtech sector total approximately €134 million in damages.
The decisions also come amid continued European enforcement activity in the adtech sector, including the European Commission’s September 2025 decision imposing a €2.95 billion fine on Google – a development that may further shape follow-on damages litigation across the European Economic Area.
More broadly, the decisions underscore the growing effectiveness of competition law as a tool for damages recovery and the ability of French courts to resolve disputes involving significant technical and economic complexity.
The Orrick team is led by Patrick Hubert and Maxence Jonvel of the Antitrust & Competition team, with assistance from Malik Idri of FTPA.
The team was also assisted by economic experts Philippe Février, Nicolas Dupuis and Paul Cadars from Altermind Economics.
*Appeal proceedings are currently pending.