Google is breaking EU rules according to shopping comparison rivals who penned a letter to the EU’s Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager. In their letter, they called on Vestager and the European Commission to begin taking non-compliance proceedings against Google, alleging that the search giant was not following rules set out by the European Commission’s June 2017 Prohibition Decision.
The rivals went on to say that the remedy which Google introduced as a result of the EC decision has continued to cause “harm to competition, consumers and innovation”. The competitors that made the claims include Acheter-moins-cher, Comparado, Foundem, Idealo, KuantoKusta, LionsHome, Prisjakt / PriceSpy, RedBrain, Solute, StyleLounge, Vergelijk, Visual Meta, and Yroo.
The rival firms claimed in their letter that Google had set up its comparison product up unfairly because it requires others to bid away “the vast majority of their profits” while Google’s bids are essentially free. It said that the lack of a fair playing field means that customers are the main losers as they don’t see the full range of product offers.
If Vestager decides to pursue Google over the allegations made by these rival firms, Google could be forced to re-think its solution so its addresses the concerns raised, it could also be forced to pay up to 5% of its global revenue every day that it fails to be compliant.
Source: Search Neutrality via BBC News