Search engines is being sued in the European Union again over anti-competitive shopping practices.
The EU Commission ruled in 2017 that Google’s preferential treatment of its own Google Shopping product in search results was illegal, and it slapped the company with a record-setting fine of 2. 4 billion euros. The penalty was upheld in an appeal in 2021. Now, price-comparison service PriceRunner is suing Google for the harm it says was caused to its business over the last 12 years. PriceRunner is starting the suit at 2. 1 billion euros, but “since the violation is still ongoing, the amount of damages increases every day, ” the company said. “We expect the final damages amount of the lawsuit in order to be significantly higher. ”
In a press release, PriceRunner Chief Executive Mikael Lindahl stated the company is suing Yahoo for “the damage Google has caused us during many many years. ” But the company also sees the lawsuit “as a fight for consumers who have suffered tremendously from Google’s infringement of the competition law for the past fourteen years plus still today, ” Lindahl wrote.