A Swedish price comparison website has filed a $2.4 billion lawsuit against Google alleging that the search giant manipulated search results to favor its own competing shopping service.
Google lost an appeal in November against a 2.42 billion-euro penalty it received in 2017 for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair edge over smaller European competitors.
The Swedish technology startup PriceRunner filed its lawsuit with Stockholm's Patent and Market Court.
"They're still abusing the market to an extreme degree and haven't changed much," PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl told Reuters.
According to Lindahl, it was a matter of survival for European technology companies and their employees.
PriceRunner, which is in the process of being acquired by Swedish fintech Klarna, said in a statement that it filed a lawsuit in Sweden seeking compensation for profits lost in the United Kingdom since 2008, as well as in Denmark and Sweden since 2013.
A Google representative stated that the company would vigorously defend itself in court.
Lindahl stated that PriceRunner was prepared to fight for a long period of time, had secured tens of millions of euros in external financing, and had contingency plans in place in the event it lost.
The European Commission's 2017 fine followed a seven-year investigation into allegations that Google manipulated internet search results to favor its shopping service, thereby harming competitors and consumers.
The Commission discovered that Google routinely elevated its own comparison shopping service to a prominent position in its search results while demoting rival comparison shopping services.
"For many years, European consumers have been denied genuine choice in shopping services, and this is one step toward ensuring that this continues," the Klarna representative said.
Klarna agreed in November to acquire PriceRunner for 1.05 billion Swedish crowns ($124.35 million) from investment firm Creades. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.
Axel Springer's shopping comparison service In 2019, Idealo sued Google for 500 million euros.
According to a Google spokesperson, the company is looking forward to defending its position in court. In 2017, the company implemented a number of changes in response to the commission's concerns.
PriceRunner bills itself as the Nordic region's largest independent price comparison service, offering over 3.7 million products from 22,500 merchants in 25 countries.
For many years, European consumers have been denied genuine choice in shopping services, "and this is one step toward ensuring that this is no longer the case," the spokeswoman said.
