Google hit with Rs 26,172 crore fine after 15-year legal battle with UK couple

In a landmark ruling, Google has been ordered to pay £2.4 billion (approximately Rs 26,172 crore) following a prolonged 15-year legal battle with a UK couple, Shivaun Raff and her husband, Adam.

The European Court of Justice upheld the European Commission's original 2017 fine, which accused Google of abusing its market dominance in the comparison shopping sector. The tech giant expressed disappointment over the court's decision according to a detailed report by BBC.

How it all started?

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Shivaun and Adam Raff co-founded their price comparison website, Foundem, in 2006 after leaving secure jobs to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Their platform aimed to help consumers find the best prices across various online retailers.

However, from the moment they launched, they noticed a significant drop in their visibility on Google search results, particularly for terms like ‘price comparison’ and ‘comparison shopping’. This decline severely limited their audience reach and revenue potential. In a way Google abused its market dominance.

"We were monitoring our rankings, and then we saw them all plummet almost immediately," Adam recalled in a recent interview. Initially, the couple believed their site's poor performance was an unfortunate mistake, a misidentification by Google's spam filters. "We thought this was collateral damage," Shivaun stated, hoping that with enough communication, the issue could be resolved.

Despite multiple attempts to engage with Google and rectify their search ranking, the couple received no response for over two years. By late 2008, they suspected something more complicated was at play when their site began experiencing unusually high traffic, leading them to consider the possibility of a cyber-attack. However, it turned out to be a surge in interest from users, ultimately resulting in Foundem being recognized as the best price comparison site in the UK by Channel 5’s The Gadget Show.

Frustrated by Google’s lack of response and the detrimental impact on their business, the Raffs turned to regulatory bodies in the UK, the US, and Brussels for assistance. Unfortunately, by 2016, they were forced to shut down Foundem, though they have continued their fight against Google through civil damages claims, with a court date set for 2026.

Biggest penalty ever imposed

The fine imposed on Google in 2017 was the largest ever levied by the European Commission until it was overtaken by a subsequent £4.3 billion fine for different violations.

Google has since claimed that it has made necessary adjustments to its business practices to comply with regulatory demands, stating that these changes have benefited over 800 comparison shopping services.

A spokesperson for Google said that the CJEU judgement [in 2024] only relates to “how we showed product results from 2008-2017.”

He further stated according to the BBC report that, “The changes we made in 2017 to comply with the European Commission's Shopping decision have worked successfully for more than seven years, generating billions of clicks for more than 800 comparison shopping services. For this reason, we continue to strongly contest the claims made by Foundem and will do so when the case is considered by the courts,” the spokesperson added.

Hence, the outcome of this lengthy legal battle highlights the challenges small businesses face when competing against industry giants and underscores the importance of fair competition in the digital marketplace.