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Why a Swedish price comparison site is suing Google

A Swedish price comparison site has launched a billion-euro lawsuit against Google, in a row over search results.

Published: 7 February 2022 11:56 CET

Why a Swedish price comparison site is suing Google

Swedish company PriceRunner accuses Google of manipulating search results. Photo: AP Photo/Michel Euler

PriceRunner said on Monday it was suing tech giant Google for 2.1 billion euros ($2.4 billion) for promoting its own shopping comparisons in search results.

Europe has cracked down on the business practices of Big Tech in recent years, while the EU is moving forward with legislation to tighten regulation.

US behemoths are facing facing fines and legal challenges in many European nations.

The Swedish tech startup said it expected the “final damages amount of the lawsuit to be significantly higher”, given that “the violation is still ongoing”.

Chief executive Mikael Lindahl said the lawsuit was also a fight “for consumers who have suffered tremendously from Google’s infringement of the competition law for the past fourteen years and still today”.

The Swedish tech startup filed its suit with the Patent and Market Court in Stockholm after the European Union General Court ruled that Google “breached EU antitrust laws by manipulating search results in favour of their own comparison shopping services”.

In November, the EU court upheld a 2.4-billion-euro fine the European Commission had slapped on Google in 2017, saying results from Google’s own comparison service were “displayed in a more eye-catching manner”.

PriceRunner said it was seeking damages for profits it lost in Britain since 2008 as well as in Sweden and Denmark since 2013.

PriceRunner said Google had a “monopoly-like position” within the European Economic Area (EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), with over 90 percent of the market share for internet search engines.

The price comparison site is based in Sweden but also operates in Denmark, Norway and the UK. It has previously said it plans to expand to more countries.

In November, Swedish fintech Klarna bought PriceRunner for an undisclosed sum, with media reports putting the price at over $1 billion.

Member comments

Anonymous - 7 February 2022 at 19:14 CET

Many of us in the US hope you win! Google has been manipulating the system for far too long.

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Why Google searches in Europe no longer show maps

Internet users across the world have been accustomed to searching for addresses or locations on Google and immediately afterwards seeing Google Maps pop up in the results, allowing them with one click to be taken to the Maps page.

However, for people living in EU and EEA countries, this function stopped appearing in early March as a result of new EU regulations intended to decrease the ‘gatekeeping’ power of tech giants.

Now, when searching a specific address on your laptop, you will continue to see a small map in the centre of the screen, but will be unable to click on the map and be taken straight to Google Maps. The ‘Maps’ button that once appeared below the search bar, along with ‘Images’ or ‘News’ no longer appears either.

Instead, you’ll need to head to the website www.google.com/maps or click ‘Directions’ to use the Maps function.

The change is most noticeable on a laptop or tablet device. When using searching an address on a smartphone, users may still be redirected to the Google Maps app when clicking the map image.

Why the change?

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) was voted on in 2022, and the regulations contained in it became enforceable on Wednesday.

The goal of the legislation was to manage competition and end the domination of large tech companies, such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and ByteDance (TikTok) within the European market.

These tech giants have been accused of promoting their own services to the detriment of other similar options from competitors, as well as acting as gatekeepers to prevent other companies from entering or growing in the market.

The goal is also to offer consumers with more options.

For example, when searching for nearby bars or restaurants, the results might have taken the user directly to Google Maps instead of other sites, such as Yelp.

A representative from Google explained the French media Franceinfo: “As part of our efforts to comply with the Digital Markets Regulation, we have made a number of changes to the way search results are displayed, including removing certain features.

“Users in the EU will no longer see the ‘Maps’ shortcut at the top of the search page,” they said.

The European Commission’s objective was to allow the “10,000 other online platforms – mostly small and medium-sized enterprises – to operate on the digital market,” French media Le Point reported.

Are there any other changes related to this?

Yes – people in the EU/EEA may have noticed that they received a question from the ‘Messenger’ service asking if they want to create a new account or continue using the app with their existing Facebook account.

This is because Messenger and Facebook are technically different services now. The same goes for Instagram and Facebook.

Even though both are part of ‘Meta’, the company will have to offer people the choice to keep their accounts separate, in an effort to allow users to choose whether they want their personal data to be tracked across sites.

Similarly, people in the EU using Apple products will no longer have to go through the Apple App store to install apps – other options will be available.

For example, Microsoft is reportedly working on a rival ‘gaming’ app store.

Eventually, the DMA will also force messaging services to allow users to contact each other – so you would be able to send a message from one platform to another.

Is this just in the EU?

As the Digital Markets Act is a piece of EU legislation, it only applies to the European Union and EEA countries. However, other countries, including South Korea, Japan and the UK, are looking into ways they might rein in tech giants with similar proposals.

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