Google was slapped with a huge fine of 2.4 billion euros, which is approximately 26,000 billion rupees. UK courts have taken significant action against Google, and the case has been ongoing for 15 years. In its ruling, the European Court of Justice found Google guilty of abuse of market power. The report said Google used market power to support its shopping service. Shivaun and Adam Raff, a British business couple, filed suit 15 years ago.
Violation of antitrust rules
The European Court of Justice fined Google, upholding the European Commission’s 2017 antitrust violation decision. The tech company has appealed the matter several times to the court, which subsequently ruled and justified the European Commission’s decision. The court found that the tech company violated antitrust rules by abusing its search engine algorithm to benefit its shopping service.
This fight lasted for 15 years
The British business couple has been waging this battle against Google for the past 15 years. The business couple launched Foundem in 2006 to help users find deals on electronics, flights and other items. The site did not appear in Google search results due to Google’s algorithm, which resulted in Foundem’s revenue being negatively impacted, and the company also suffered a loss in revenue from affiliate clicks and product listings.
Initially, Adam Roff was informed that there was a problem with his website and therefore it was declared as spam in the automated filters of Google Search. The couple reached out to Google multiple times about the problem but found no solution. However, the couple’s website’s performance on other search engines was not affected during this period. Foundem was voted the UK’s best price comparison website in December 2008. However, the business couple filed a lawsuit in court after the site began to suffer due to Google’s algorithm.
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