Winners & losers: Google is racking up an eye-watering antitrust tab for its advertising and shopping services. After two major court rulings and a €2.95 billion EU competition fine, the company's total liability now exceeds €3.5 billion for abusing its dominant position in the comparison shopping sector alone.
A Berlin court has ordered Google to pay a combined €572 million ($664 million US) in damages to two German price comparison platforms after finding the company abused its dominant market position for years. Reuters reports that the ruling stands as one of the largest antitrust-related awards ever issued against the search giant in Europe and intensifies scrutiny over how far it pushed its shopping results ahead of rivals.
The court found that Google harmed competition in the price comparison market between 2008 and 2023 by steering traffic toward its own shopping service. The judges issued two separate decisions - one requires Google to pay €465 million to Idealo, and the other awards €107 million to Producto.
Idealo, a subsidiary of the German media group Axel Springer, was seeking €3.3 billion in damages. The company argued that Google's behavior deprived it of years of traffic and advertising revenue. The claim followed a European Court of Justice decision in 2024 that found Google had engaged in self-preferencing in the comparison shopping sector and upheld a multibillion-euro fine.
Idealo co-founder Albrecht von Sonntag said it is time for giant corporations to start being held accountable in a meaningful way rather than just suffering fines that amount to a slap on the wrist.
"We will continue to fight - because market abuse must have consequences and must not become a lucrative business model that pays off despite fines and damages payments," said von Sonntag.
Google rejected the findings and said it will appeal both decisions. The company maintains that it made significant changes to its shopping service in 2017 to comply with European competition law and to give rival comparison sites equal opportunity to display ads within the shopping unit.
"The changes we made in 2017 have proven successful without intervention from the European Commission," a Google spokesperson told TechCrunch.
According to the company, participation in the remedy-based shopping ads unit has expanded from seven price comparison services in 2017 to more than 1,500 today. Google said its shopping results operate as if they were a separate business, competing in auctions like any other bidder - though critics note that the company's dual role as auction operator and participant could give it an inherent advantage over rival comparison sites.
The ruling lands at a moment when regulators across Europe are escalating their pressure on large technology platforms. It follows an inquiry into how Google's spam policies affect search rankings for publishers and comes just weeks after European regulators fined the company nearly €3 billion ($3.42 billion US) for prioritizing its advertising services over competitors. The decisions in Germany suggest that courts may be willing to interpret competition harms more broadly, particularly when dominant platforms influence which rivals are visible online.
A German court just hit Google with €572 million in damages for juicing its own shopping results
