When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Dozens of EU companies are suing Google for €12 Billion in antitrust damages

Google Gemini AI on the way

Google now faces at least €12 billion (around $13.3 billion) in civil damage claims from dozens of price comparison websites across the European Union. These companies say that Google unfairly used its dominant position in the Search business to promote its own shopping service, and pushed other businesses down while also "stealing" their customers.

Google was first fined €2.4 billion by the European Commission in 2017 for "abusing its market power" when it promoted its own shopping service. The ruling triggered a wave of many "follow-on" lawsuits from affected companies, but they were delayed as Google appealed the decision.

Last year, Europe's top court confirmed that Google had indeed violated antitrust laws, meaning that companies suing Google would no longer have to prove the damages they suffered. The total claims from these lawsuits are now adding up to at least €12 billion.

Here's a breakdown of the claims and the companies making them, as per Bloomberg:

Plaintiff Home country Size of claim
Trovaprezzi Italy

€2.97 billion

Pricerunner Sweden

€2.1 billion

Kelkoo UK

€1.4 billion

PreisRoboter, KuantoKusta, others

Netherlands

€900 million

Ceneo Poland

€550 million

Group of six companies

Various

€450 million (court estimate)

Stylight Germany

€300 million (court estimate)

Unknown plaintiff

Germany

€290 million

Foundem UK Unknown

Compare Group

Netherlands Unknown
Heureka

Czech Republic

Unknown
Total €12.26 billion

Google says that it disagrees with the claims and argues that it has made changes since 2017 that have benefited these comparison shopping sites. It also says that it complied with the EU's requirements and that the industry is now thriving because of it.

These lawsuits against Google will take many years to resolve. If Europe's courts rule in favor of the price comparison companies, Google will have to shell out a lot of money in addition to the fines it has already paid.

Source: Bloomberg

Report a problem with article
Two women surrounded by Microsoft 365 app logos
Next Article

Check your eligibility for free three-month trial and price-cut on Microsoft 365 Personal

Broken Outlook logo
Previous Article

Microsoft details fix for Word high CPU usage bug on Windows Outlook [Update]

Join the conversation!

Login or Sign Up to read and post a comment.

4 Comments - Add comment