A Berlin court has ruled that Google must pay damages totaling 572 million euros, or nearly $665 million, to two German companies for engaging in “market abuse.” As first reported by Reuters, the decision mandates that the tech giant pay approximately 465 million euros (about $540 million) to Idealo and roughly 107 million euros (about $124 million) to Producto. Both companies are price comparison platforms based in Germany. The ruling determined that Google abused its dominant market position by favoring its own Google Shopping service within search results.
Idealo initiated the legal action, claiming that the Alphabet subsidiary was “self-preferencing” its own platforms, a practice the company argued created unfair market advantages and hindered competitors. Idealo originally demanded damages of at least 3.3 billion euros, or over $3.8 billion, in February 2025. To counter these claims, Google argued that it made changes in 2017 to provide competing shopping platforms the same opportunity as Google Shopping to display ads via Google Search.
Following the verdict, Idealo announced in a press release that it will continue to apply legal pressure, stating that the amount awarded “reflects only a fraction of the actual damage.” Albrecht von Sonntag, a co-founder and member of Idealo’s advisory board, emphasized in the release that the “abuse of dominance must have consequences and must not be a profitable business model that pays off despite fines and damages.”
This is not the only recent legal issue Google has faced in the region. Engadget notes that the European Union has threatened massive fines for violations of the Digital Markets Act, specifically accusing the company of favoring Google Flights and Google Hotels in search results. Additionally, a month prior to this ruling, the European Commission fined Google nearly 3 billion euros (more than $3.4 billion) for anticompetitive practices in the advertising tech industry.
