Google is facing another lawsuit as Sweden's price comparison firm PriceRunner sued the search engine for $2.4 billion on Feb. 7. The firm is accusing the search giant that manipulated the search results on the platform.
Google Sued by PriceRunner
In November 2021, Google lost its appeal against the European Union's General Court's $2.8 billion fine it received back in 201, according to CNBC.
The court found the search giant using its own price comparison shopping service, giving it an advantage against smaller rivals in Europe.
In an interview, Mikael Lindahl, PriceRunner's Chief Executive, told Reuters that Google is abusing the market to a great extent and has not changed its ways despite having three ongoing lawsuits for using its power in the market.
PriceRunner filed a lawsuit against Google in Sweden. The firm wants the search giant to pay compensation for the profit it had lost in the United Kingdom since 2008 and its profit in Denmark and Sweden since 2013.
A spokesperson for Google said that the search giant would defend the lawsuit in court.
The spokesperson added that the changes they made to shopping ads in 2017 are working well, and PriceRunner just chose not to use shopping ads on the platform, which could explain why they did not see the same success that other firms have.
Lindahl said that PriceRunner was prepared to fight for this lawsuit, even if it takes years. The firm said they have tens of millions of euros secured in their external financing, and they have prepared steps to take in case they do not win.
The European Commission's fine back in 2017 was the result of an investigation that lasted for seven years. Several complaints trigged that Google manipulated the search results in order to favor its shopping service, thus harming its consumers and rivals.
The Commission found out that the search giant gave placement to its own comparison shopping service and purposely demoted its rivals in its search results.
A spokesperson for PriceRunner said that European consumers had been denied proper choice in shopping services for years, and this is one step to ensure that the unfairness finally ends.
PriceRunner was bought by Klarna back in November from investment firm Creades for $124.36 million. In 2019, Axel Springer's price comparison shopping service Idealo sued Google for $571,167.
Google's Deceptive Location Tracking
Aside from allegedly changing the search results in their favor, Google was also accused of manipulating location tracking.
According to the BBC, Google was sued in the United States because it deceived people about controlling location tracking.
The lawsuit refers to a report back in 2018 about Google's location-tracking setting in its app and about how it was insufficient.
Google was accused of using dark patterns, which is a marketing technique used to deliberately confuse users. The search giant said that the accusations were not accurate at all.
The lawsuit was filed in Washington DC. The same ones were filed in Texas, Washington state, and Indiana.
The lawsuit refers to a revelation posted by the Associated Press regarding the Location History that uses Google Maps or Google Search and how it was insufficient.
Related Article: Lawsuit Accusing Google Of Collecting Data Of Users During Incognito Browsing To Continue
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Written by Sophie Webster
