After being targeted by a complaint from a coalition of media outlets followed by a complaint for unfair competition by travel booking sites, Google is once again in the dock. With a market share of more than 80%, the search engine is accused to take advantage of its dominant position through price comparison sites.
According to information from DataNews, five price comparison sites have reportedly taken the Amsterdam court to court to claim 900 million euros from Google.
Among the plaintiffs are PreisRoboter in Germany, KuantoKusta in Portugal, and Furnish in the United Kingdom, all true local institutions.
€900 million claimed by five online comparison sites
As a reminder, Google had already been condemned in 2017 with its Google Shopping solution for violating EU antitrust rules. After a $2.7 billion fine, this could be another blow to the company...
Three years ago, in 2022, Google was accused by these online comparison sites of being the main culprit for a massive drop in traffic to their respective sites. Since Google had developed its own solution to compare products with Google Shopping, the loss of revenue would be considerable...
As compensation, these price comparison sites are now demanding €900 million from Google. While the European Union believes that these platforms are within their rights, Google does not seem to see it the same way...
Google responds to legal proceedings
Even if this is not the first time that Google has been accused and convicted of similar acts, the platform intends to defend itself in this case.
Faced with these accusations, a Google spokesperson states that price comparison sites must adapt to the search engine's developments, without being satisfied with its natural search results. Google Shopping is now separate search results, the comparison site representatives believe they were forced to advertise online.
Accusing these comparison sites of having initiated this approach for the lure of profit, the Google spokesperson declared to be in "deep disagreement" with these lawsuits. He believes that these companies did not sufficiently anticipate the technological developments of the engine. Moreover, the search engine being based on an algorithm, he believes that competitors have taken the place of these comparators, as in other activities.
For its part, the firm Stek, represented by the lawyer Simon Boersen, has not yet reacted to these statements, but the standoff is now well underway between the two parties.
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