A German court in Berlin has ruled that Google LLC must pay approximately €572 million (about US $666 million) in damages to two German price‑comparison platforms, finding the tech giant guilty of abusing its dominant position in the market.
The breakdown of the award is €465 million for Idealo Internet GmbH (a subsidiary of the German media group Axel Springer), and €107 million for Producto GmbH, according to the ruling.
Idealo alleged that Google steered internet users towards its own “Google Shopping” service between 2008 and 2023, thereby disadvantaging rival services, and initially sought €3.3 billion in damages. The court found merit in those claims, concluding that Google had used its search engine dominance to unfairly promote its own shopping‑comparison offering.
Google said it plans to appeal the court decision. A spokesperson noted that changes introduced in 2017, allowing rival comparison‑sites access to Google’s Shopping unit, were working and that no further intervention by the European Commission had been made since then. “The number of price‑comparison services in Europe using the remedy Shopping Unit has increased from seven to 1,550,” the statement read.
Regulators say the decision sends a strong signal that competition law enforcement in Europe is moving beyond regulatory fines and into awarding substantial compensation to affected rivals. German courts are increasingly becoming a key venue for “follow‑on” private damage claims against dominant tech platforms.
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