Over 40 European companies accuse Alphabet Inc. of being biased for its price comparison shopping service

German digital publishing house, Axel Springer, accused Alphabet Inc. on Thursday of being biased for its price comparison shopping service (CSS). Having received the support from as many as 40 other European peers, Axel Springer has approached EU antitrust regulators and is seeking a harsh ruling against Google’s parent company.

Margrethe Vestager, the current European Competition Commissioner, is under pressure following multiple businesses pointing fingers at Alphabet for favoring CSS. Vestager had already ordered the world-renowned search engine to play fair in the league of price comparison shopping services back in 2017.

Google Was Charged With €2.4 billion Fine In 2017

Despite an extravagant fine of €2.4 billion on Google, the companies highlighted in a joint letter that Alphabet has failed to comply with Vestager’s order of 2017. The largest group to have filed a complaint against Alphabet in history include businesses from 21 different EU countries. Price comparison shopping services like Britain’s Kelkoo, Polish’s Ceneo, Foundem, Czech Republic’s Heureka, and the second-largest European service, Idealo, are among a few of the prominent names that have filed a complaint against Google.

The joint letter further adds that the companies have accused Google’s advertising space to not have made any change to the overall traffic to their websites. Alphabet, on the contrary, has responded with a statement that it has helped many merchants get more traffic with its shopping remedies.

As per the sources, Vestager confirmed the receipt of the complaint. She further added that the group has left it to the commissioner’s discretion to suggest an appropriate plan of action against Alphabet. The final ruling, as per the commissioner, will be announced following a meticulous evaluation of the complaint.

In an Informa Conference at the start of the week, Oliver Bethell, a senior executive at Google, reported over 600 companies on average to be participating in the bidding for advertising space on the search page, suggesting that the auctions have greatly helped boost the competition.

Alphabet Inc. Performed Well In The Stock Market In 2019

The U.S stock markets are closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday. In the after-hours trading on Wednesday, however, Alphabet’s stock was reported to have slipped from the session close of 1,313 to 1,311. The broader picture for the stock has remained upbeat for 2019. Having started the year at around 1,055, share prices were reported to have noted a year-to-date high of 1,333 earlier in November. The stock has traded above the opening level in the past 11 months.

The Google parent company announced its Q3 earnings report in October that recorded better than expected revenue but earnings per share remained shy of the analysts’ forecast.