The company is demanding compensation of 2.1 billion euros. Google Shopping was already fined for its actions in Europe in 2017.
PriceRunner is a price comparison site that has been owned by Klarna since November 2021. According to the company, it has more than 3.7 million products to choose from in 22,500 stores in 25 different countries.
Writing with 40 other comparison shopping services.
In 2019, the company wrote a joint letter with 40 other comparison shopping services about Google's abuse of its market power. That letter called for action against Google's noncompliance with European Commission requirements in 2017.
At the time, the Commission concluded that Google had provided more favorable positioning and display of its own comparison shopping service, Google Shopping, than competing services. The EC ordered Google to put a stop to this.
'Google received a record €2.4 billion fine.
Google received a record €2.4 billion fine after the EC concluded that Google had improved its comparison shopping service. But according to competitors, Google is still abusing its market power.
Survival issue.
"We are, of course, seeking compensation for the harm Google has done to us over the years, but we also see this lawsuit as a fight for consumers, who have been very much affected by Google's violation of competition law over the last fourteen years and up to this point," PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl said in a statement. "It is also a matter of survival for many European entrepreneurial companies and employment opportunities in technology.
We demand compensation for the damage Google has caused us over the years."
"If American tech giants are allowed to freely control and manipulate markets with their near-monopoly positions, we can expect many tech companies in Europe to suffer far beyond product and price comparison," Lindahl added.
Google is ready to defend itself in court.
PriceRunner is demanding that Google pay compensation for lost profits in the U.K. since 2008 and in Sweden and Denmark since 2013. Google said it made a number of changes in 2017 to address the EC's concerns.
"The changes we made to shopping ads in 2017 are working well, driving growth and jobs for hundreds of comparison shopping services that operate more than 800 websites across Europe," said a Google spokesperson. "PriceRunner chose not to use Google ads, so it may not have been as successful as others. We are ready to defend our position in court," said Frederick Abrard, director of CSS Shopping Ads at Google.