Google allegedly steers customers away from competitors in search results, according to a new lawsuit filed by Foundem.
Google is being sued in the United Kingdom for allegedly helping its own business by steering customers away from competitors in search results. The lawsuit has surfaced just a week after the U.S. Federal trade Commission cleared Google of similar conduct in the United States, and as European regulators conduct their own investigation.
Foundem, a British shopping comparison Website, filed a lawsuit against Google in London "seeking damages for revenue lost as a result of Google's 'anti-competitive conduct,'" according to a story from Bloomberg. The court documents were filed in October and were just released this week, Bloomberg reported.
This isn't the first time that Foundem has gone after Google in connection with such claims. Foundem helped motivate a 2010 antitrust investigation by the European Union regarding the same kind of alleged behavior by Google. The EU is still considering actions against Google despite the FTC's decision in the United States Jan. 3.
"Foundem said in the lawsuit that it had been unfairly penalized by Google because it offers a competing shopping comparison search service," reported Bloomberg. "It lost Web traffic as a result of being pushed down in Google’s search rankings."
In the United States, Google essentially received a hand slap from the FTC after a 19-month investigation into allegations that the company had been manipulating its search algorithms to favor Google's results over competitors. The FTC ruled that not enough evidence existed to prove allegations from some competitors that Google had manipulated its search algorithms to harm competing Websites and unfairly promote its own competing vertical properties. Instead, the company entered into a voluntary agreement with the FTC to change some of its other business practices
