A German court has ruled that Google abused its dominant position in the price comparison sector and must pay €572 million ($665.6 million) in damages to two German price comparison companies, Reuters reported. The decision follows years of legal disputes over Google’s treatment of rival shopping comparison services in its search results.
Under the ruling, Google must pay €465 million (about $540 million) to Idealo and €107 million (about $124 million) to Producto. Idealo had originally sought €3.3 billion in damages, arguing that the case was backed by the 2024 European Court of Justice ruling that found Google had unlawfully favored its own shopping comparison service and imposed a fine of roughly $2.7 billion.
Idealo said on Friday that it will continue pursuing the full amount it sued for. In a statement, CEO and co-founder Albrecht von Sonntag said that while the company welcomed the court’s finding, the impact of Google’s self-preferencing practices extended beyond the awarded compensation. He added that market abuse must carry meaningful consequences to prevent companies from benefiting even after fines and payouts.
Google said it plans to appeal both rulings. In an emailed statement, the company argued that the changes it introduced in 2017 comply with EU requirements and noted that the number of price comparison services participating in its Shopping Unit program has grown from seven to 1,550. Google said rival services receive the same opportunity as Google Shopping to display ads, adding that Google Shopping operates as if it were an independent business participating in auctions on equal terms.
The decision comes shortly after the European Union opened an investigation into how Google’s spam policies influence publishers’ search rankings. It also follows a separate €2.95 billion (just under $3.5 billion) EU fine for allegedly favoring its own advertising services in violation of antitrust rules.
Featured image credits: Freepik
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.