Google’s Wallet Takes Another Huge Hit in Europe

Google has received yet another colossal fine from European regulators. A Berlin court has ordered Google to pay two German platforms 572 million euros ($633 million). The fine concerns compensation for two price comparison platforms. The money is to be paid in compensation for damages, as the court found that Google had been abusing its dominant market position for years. According to reports, this court ruling has become one of the largest antitrust decisions ever made against the search giant in Europe. Created by Gemini, the ruling stated that Google harmed competition in the price comparison market from 2008 to 2023 by redirecting traffic to its own shopping service. The judges issued two separate rulings: one requires Google to pay Idealo 465 million euros ($515 million), while the other awards Producto 107 million euros ($118 million) to Producto. The latter, however, had demanded 3.3 billion. As with many similar cases, these proceedings will not end here. Google has already rejected these rulings and announced that it would appeal both. The company claims that in 2017, it made significant changes to its shopping service to comply with European competition law.