On 10 September at 9.30am CEST, the Court of Justice of the European Union will make its final ruling on Google’s second appeal against the 2017 €2.42bn fine imposed for abusing its market dominance in the comparison shopping market. Google lost its first appeal in 2021 – and reappealed. If Google loses this reappeal on 10 September, it cannot reappeal again.
Kelkoo Group’s CEO Rich Stables and General Counsel Steve Thomas will be available for interview via Zoom. Rich/Steve can talk about the ruling of course, together with what it means for SMEs in the UK/Europe; growth, tech innovation etc and consumer choice.
The 10 September decision will follow last week’s landmark US antitrust case about Google’s dominance in Search; it lost the case and presiding judge Mehta ruled that “Google is a monopolist and has acted as one to maintain its monopoly.” The context: Kelkoo Group was a hugely successful comparison-shopping service (CSS) that helped consumers to make shopping choices and helped online retailers to reach those consumers.However, virtually overnight, our £1bn comparison shopping business was destroyed. Using its overwhelming dominance in Search, Google promoted its own CSS and excluded competitors like Kelkoo from its general search results through multiple algorithmic changes. As a result, consumers could no longer find Kelkoo or services like ours. Competition in shopping comparison was decimated, leaving consumers poorer and Kelkoo and others struggling for survival.
We are one of the lead complainants in the historic 2017 Google Shopping case in Europe (which relates to the €2.42bn fine – a record amount at the time) and have been lobbying for fair digital markets globally for nearly 15 years.For background, we are in constant dialogue with regulators in the UK, Europe, and the US, giving evidence of Google’s anti-competitive behaviour. Over the past year, Rich has given evidence to the House of Commons and House of Lords on the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Bill, which gained Royal Assent in May.
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Blog: Kelkoo Group Policy Blog |
