Claim $15.3 billion! Swedish price comparison companies have sued Google for abusing its position in favor of its own services

On Monday, February 7, 2022, Swedish company PriceRunner said it was suing Google for about 2.1 billion euros (about 15.3 billion yuan).

PriceRunner website.

It is understood that PriceRunner is a price comparison website based in Stockholm, Sweden, and also operates in Denmark, the United Kingdom and other countries. The PriceRunner lawsuit is linked to a legal ruling by the European Commission that found Google to violate antitrust law by manipulating search results to support its own comparative shopping service.

In June 2017, the European Commission fined Google 2.42 billion euros. Behind the sky-high fines is a 7-year investigation sparked by dozens of complaints that Google has distorted internet search results, favored its shopping services and hurt competitors and consumers. The European Commission investigation found that Google placed its comparison shopping service in a prominent position in search results and competitors in a lower ranking position.

Subsequently, Google changed the way its shopping service worked, but at the same time appealed to the General Court of the European Union. Google argued that the penalty was "legally, factually, and financially wrong." In November 2021, the General Court of Justice of Europe rejected Google's appeal, upholding the European Commission's fine.

At the end of January this year, Google said it would appeal again to overturn the sky-high fine.

In PriceRunner's view, Google has not complied with the European Commission's ruling and is still abusing its dominance in internet search engines.

PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl said the company launched the lawsuit after "extensive and thorough preparation." "We will certainly seek compensation for the damage google has done to us over the years, but also see this lawsuit as a struggle for consumers to suffer huge losses over the past 14 years and today as a result of Google's violation of competition laws," and "it's also about the survival of many European startups and jobs in the tech industry." ”

In response, a Google spokesperson said that Google will defend it in court. "The changes we made to Shopping Advertising were successful in 2017, bringing growth and employment opportunities to hundreds of comparative shopping service companies that operate more than 800 websites in Europe." "PriceRunner chose not to use Shopping ads on Google, so it may not have seen the success of others."

It is worth mentioning that in November 2021, Swedish company Klarna acquired PriceRunner from investment company Creades for SEK 1.06 billion, a deal that is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.

Regarding PriceRunner's lawsuit, a Klarna spokesperson said Klarna understands and supports the lawsuit and that it is vital that all tech companies, regardless of where they operate, must compete with the best products and services on their merits and then earn the trust of consumers. "For years, European consumers have been deprived of a real choice when it comes to shopping services, and this is a step towards ensuring that this situation is over now."

Synthesis/Compilation: Nandu reporter Huang Liling