Google to fight in court against EC fine of $2.7 billion over shopping comparisons

We are witnessing yet another legal dispute between one of the big five US tech giants and the European Commission. Now, it’s Google’s turn to appear in front of the EC, appealing a roughly $2.7 billion (€2.4 billion) fine issued in 2017. Apparently, Google has been punished by the EU for abusing its power by promoting its own shopping comparison service and thus limiting rival visibility.

In a statement to the BBC, Google is arguing that the fine has no legal or economic merit and that their shopping ads have always been helping people find needed products quickly and easily, as well as assisting sellers reach a wider audience.

Additionally, Google is underlining that the investigation excluded Google’s rival, Amazon. Google also claims that, in recent years, comparison services have been losing popularity, while more people are directly going to shopping platforms like Amazon to compare price offers and products.

On the EC antitrust side of the dispute, against Google, stand several shopping comparison websites, among which Kelkoo, Twenga and Foundem. The latter has filed a complaint against Google back in 2009 and is currently the lead plaintiff in the case.

Until now, Google has been fined by the EC several times (in total, fines amount to $8.9 billion) and all those cases are related to alleged abuse of power - manipulating shopping results, using Android software to promote its own apps and blocking advertisements from rival search engines to appear on third-party websites.