Tech titan Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is being sued by Sweden-based price comparison service PriceRunner over alleged anticompetitive behavior.
In 2017, Alphabet Inc was fined €2.42 billion ($2.76 billion) for anticompetitive practices after a probe found that it had been tailoring its search results to give its own price comparison service an edge over smaller competitors. Alphabet lost its appeal to overturn that fine last November, though if PriceRunner's allegations are to be believed, things haven't changed much in the years that appeal took to process.
"They are still abusing the market to a very high extent and haven't changed basically anything," PriceRunner CEO Mikael Lindahl told Reuters.
Google has since stated that its changes were "working successfully" and that Price Runner, because it hadn't been using Google ads, "[must not] have seen the same successes that others have." PriceRunner, however, is well prepared for a protracted legal battle and has revealed that it managed to secure a war chest of tens of millions of euros in legal funding.
Alphabet is no slouch for the legal gladiatorial ring, having faced many a legal opponent over the years. However, growing antitrust fervor among regulators is becoming increasingly focused on the tech giants such as Alphabet. In addition, competitors are becoming increasingly frustrated and much more willing to resort to legal action, leaving it facing a growing tide of legal pressure.
German price comparison service Idealo (parent company Axel Springer SE, (OTC: AXELF)), launched a similar suit against Alphabet in 2019 for €500 million ($571 million). In the United States, Alphabet faces a lawsuit filed by a multi-state coalition of attorneys general. The suit alleges that Google's Play Store is monopolistic and anticompetitive.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission struck a tone that was quite similar, finding early last year that Google and Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) were anticompetitive. South Korean lawmakers seem even further along in this line of thinking, passing a revision to the country's Telecommunications Business Act. The modification prevents tech giants like Apple and Google from requiring exclusivity of pay systems, ending their app store monopolies in South Korea.