Google Faces Another Lawsuit For Prioritizing ‘Google Shopping’ in its Search

In Europe, Google is having a hard time. It is currently facing three big cases in the EU, with fines totaling roughly $10 billion hanging over its head like a financial sword of Damocles. It lost a key appeal for $2.8 billion to the European Union’s General Court in November. Despite these ongoing legal entanglements, at least one Google Shopping competitor claims Google isn’t following the court’s rulings and has filed a $2 billion lawsuit against the company.

PriceRunner, a pricing comparison service established in Sweden, is the company in question. It claims that Google’s actions cost the corporation 22 billion kronor ($2.41 billion) between 2008 and 2020. PriceRunner expects to be awarded much more as the lawsuit progresses because Google’s alleged breach is still ongoing. It also includes a yearly interest rate of 8% on the damages it seeks. The final award could be significantly greater because the court anticipates this lawsuit to take “many years” to conclude.

Google Faces Another Lawsuit For Prioritizing ‘Google Shopping’ in its Search

To understand where this came from, we must go back to 2017, when the European Commission decided that Google was unjustly favouring its own price comparison service, Google Shopping, by exploiting its strong market position in the EU. Google appealed that verdict to the European Union’s General Court, but was unsuccessful. The European Court of Justice is the company’s ultimate option, which it has appealed to, although the process might take another four years to complete.

Google is also facing sanctions in India and the United States, in addition to the ongoing suits in the EU. Google, for one, appears to be more than willing to take on these instances. It stated in early January that its chief legal officer, Kent Walker, would be paid $1 million per year. Two weeks later, Walker published a blog post highlighting the hazards of overregulation and anti-technology legislation, not only for Google but for the general public.

All of Google’s legal issues stem from the company’s strong market position being abused. Google owns over 85% of the global search market, a position it uses to promote its other services, such as online advertising, which accounts for over 80% of its revenue. In other words, everything that messes with Search messes with its business model’s base. As a result, you should expect Google to keep fighting these cases whenever and wherever they arise.

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