Price comparison rivals urge EU regulators to take action against Google
Axel Springer’s price comparison shopping service Idealo and a group of European rivals have urged the EU’s competition regulators to enforce a ruling against Google as they accused the tech giant of favouring its own service.
In a letter to European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager signed by companies from 21 EU countries, the group said Google has failed to comply with a 2017 order to stop showing favour to its own price comparison platform.
Read more: Google activists fear backlash after four workers fired over data breaches
Google was also fined £2.1bn at the time of the order two years ago.
The 41-strong group included Idealo – which is Europe’s second-largest price comparison service- Poland’s Ceneo, Britain’s Kelkoo and Foundem and the Czech Republic’s Heureka.
They said Google’s action to allow rival firms to bid for advertising space at the top of search pages had not increased web traffic to their platforms.
The companies wrote: “We are approaching you because companies like ours are endangered by Google, which is artfully avoiding compliance with the law.”
However, Google said more different merchants were seeing extra traffic following its changes.
Read more: Google research reveals how millenial shopping habits are changing
“Over 28,000 merchants in Europe are currently placing shopping ads through these third-party Comparison Shopping Services, leading to more choice for merchants and consumers,” Google told Reuters.
The European Commission said it was monitoring the situation.
Main image credit: Getty