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German Court Hits Google With €572 Million Damages Over Market Abuse

By  |  November 16, 2025

A German court has ruled that Google misused its dominant position in the price comparison market, ordering the tech giant to pay a combined €572 million ($665.6 million) to two domestic comparison platforms, according to Reuters. The decision marks one of the largest competition-related damages awards against the company in Europe.

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    Per Reuters, the court determined that Google owes €465 million (around $540 million) to Idealo and an additional €107 million (about $124 million) to Producto, another price comparison provider. Both companies argued that Google’s longstanding practice of prioritizing its own shopping service in search results significantly harmed their businesses.

    The case traces back to a landmark 2024 European Court of Justice ruling that found Google had been unlawfully self-preferencing its shopping comparison tool, a violation of EU competition law that previously resulted in a fine of roughly $2.7 billion. Idealo, which initially sought €3.3 billion in damages, said the German judgment marks only a partial step toward full accountability.

    Idealo confirmed on Friday that it intends to continue pursuing the remaining damages. “We welcome the court holding Google accountable. But the consequences of self-favoring go far beyond the amount awarded. We will continue to fight – because market abuse must have consequences and must not become a lucrative business model that is worthwhile despite fines and compensation payments,” said co-founder and CEO Albrecht von Sonntag in a statement.

    Read more: German Court Rules OpenAI’s ChatGPT Breached Copyright by Reproducing Song Lyrics

    Google plans to appeal both rulings. According to Reuters, the company argues that it already made meaningful changes in 2017 to address concerns from regulators. “The changes we made in 2017 are working well, with no intervention from the European Commission. The number of price comparison sites in Europe using the remedy Shopping Unit has multiplied from seven then to 1,550 today,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

    The company also maintained that competing comparison services are given equal opportunities to place ads and that Google Shopping participates in auctions under the same conditions as rivals.

    This latest judgment arrives amid heightened European scrutiny of Google’s business practices. Regulators recently launched an investigation into how the company’s spam policies may influence publishers’ search rankings. Separately, the EU fined Google €2.95 billion (just under $3.5 billion) over alleged antitrust violations linked to its advertising services—further intensifying pressure on the tech firm as competition oversight in the region continues to tighten.

    Source: Reuters