Google ordered to pay $665 million for anticompetitive practices in Germany

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A Berlin court has ruled that Google must pay 572 million euros—nearly $665 million—to a pair of German companies following findings of “market abuse.” In a decision first reported by Reuters , the tech giant was ordered to pay damages to two German price comparison platforms : approximately 465 million euros ($540 million) to Idealo and roughly 107 million euros ($124 million) to Producto. The ruling determined that Google leveraged its dominant market position to unfairly prioritize Google Shopping within its own search results.

The lawsuit , spearheaded by Idealo, accused the Alphabet subsidiary of “self-preferencing” its own services—a strategy the company argued created unfair market advantages that stifled competition . Idealo had originally sought significantly higher damages, demanding at least 3.3 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in February 2025. In its defense, Google argued that it had implemented changes back in 2017 to ensure competing shopping platforms had the same opportunities as Google Shopping to display advertisements via Google Search .

Despite the victory , Idealo signaled in a press release that it intends to maintain legal pressure on the tech giant, stating that “the amount awarded reflects only a fraction of the actual damage.” Albrecht von Sonntag, co-founder and member of Idealo’s advisory board, emphasized the principle at stake: “Abuse of dominance must have consequences and must not be a profitable business model that pays off despite fines and damages.”

This ruling is just the latest in a series of legal hurdles for Google across Europe . Beyond the shopping dispute, the company has faced accusations of favoring its own Google Flights and Google Hotels services in search rankings, prompting the European Union to threaten substantial fines under its Digital Markets Act . Furthermore, just a month prior, the European Commission fined Google nearly 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) for anticompetitive practices within the advertising technology sector .