Internet platform sues Google, demands billions for pushing it down in search engine

Idealo is a German portal comparing prices of products and services, owned by the media group Springer. The company has been in a long-standing legal dispute with Google, and now it is putting forward a demand for damages in the amount of 3.3 billion euros - writes the German portal of the travel industry Counter vor-9. Idealo complains about the abuse of the dominant position by the Americans and pushing their offers to the lower places in the search results. This was supposed to have a negative impact on the business of Google's competitors.

German company sues Google for monopolistic practices

The lawsuit is based on a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on September 10, 2024. The court confirmed that Google systematically favored its own comparison shopping platform in search results, thereby violating competition law. The CJEU made it clear that such behavior not only distorts it, but also disadvantages consumers by deliberately directing them to offers controlled by Google.

Idealo is demanding not only financial compensation, but also comprehensive information about Google's traffic, sales and profits from its own price and product comparison service in Germany. This is intended to illustrate the enormous damage that Google's long-standing unfair practices have caused to competitors and consumers.

Idealo operates price comparison portals in various sectors. It closed its sites specializing in comparing accommodation, package tours and all-inclusive offers on September 30, 2024. It continues to compare prices for airline tickets.