Google faces new UK damages claim over anticompetitive shopping search

Google is facing a new damages claim in the UK, arguing that its updated shopping-search remedy successfully restored competition after European regulators previously found it had abused its market dominance by unfairly promoting its own service. The long-running antitrust saga began with the European Commission's 2017 decision, which imposed a record €2.42 billion fine on Google for giving preferential treatment to its comparison-shopping tool while downgrading rival services, a conviction that was ultimately upheld by the EU Court of Justice in September 2024. This latest UK tribunal hearing marks the next phase of the dispute, as claimants seek monetary damages over the earlier anticompetitive conduct while Google insists its current fix eliminated favoritism rather than creating it. The case affects online shoppers and competing retailers who were disadvantaged by Google's self-preferencing strategy, which the courts concluded resulted in discriminatory exclusionary effects that did not stem from the merits of Google's proprietary tool.