Italian digital company Moltiply Group has initiated a multi-billion-euro lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google, seeking €2.97 billion ($3.33 billion) in damages over alleged anti-competitive practices, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The legal action centers on claims that Google misused its dominant position in the online search market to give preferential treatment to its own shopping comparison service at the expense of rivals, notably Trovaprezzi.it, a platform run by Moltiply’s subsidiary 7Pixel. The alleged behavior is said to have occurred between 2010 and 2017.
Moltiply is basing its lawsuit on a landmark 2017 decision by the European Commission, which found Google guilty of breaching antitrust rules. That ruling led to a €2.42 billion fine, and the European Union’s General Court upheld the decision in 2024 after Google appealed, per The Wall Street Journal.
In its filing, Moltiply claims Google’s actions during the seven-year period directly harmed competition and impeded the growth of 7Pixel’s price comparison platform in the Italian and broader European markets.
Google, for its part, responded by saying it is assessing the details of the legal complaint. A spokesperson for the company stated, “We disagree strongly with these exorbitant private damages claims which disregard this successful and growing industry.” Google also maintains that the remedies it implemented following the 2017 European Commission decision are effective and compliant.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
