Andrew Salmon’s Kelkoo continues to get massive press coverage in association with Google and the EU.
Politico 7/6/18: Opinion: Google’s Remedy is not fit for purpose.
“Google should face another fine, which could easily be double what it’s already been hit with”.
“A new remedy must be put into place that creates a genuine and fair marketplace for European comparison shopping search, creating a space in which vibrant competition and innovation are able to thrive in Europe once again.”
Policy & Regulatory Report (PaRR) 3/7/18:
EC’s Google shopping intervener attempts raise spectre of Spira diamond delays
“Foundem, FairSearch, Centre of Picture Industry (CEPIC), the Open Internet Project (OIP), Initiative for a Competitive Online Marketplace (ICOMP), Kelkoo and Yelp among others have been vocal critics of the auction currently implemented to remedy the situation.”
New York Times 18/7/18
E.U. Fines Google $5.1 Billion in Android Antitrust Case
“Getting a good headline and a big fine is one thing. Fixing the market is quite another,” said Richard Stables, the chief executive of Kelkoo, a comparison-shopping site that has filed complaints against Google to regulators.”
MLex 18/7/18
Kelkoo welcomes EU decision on Android
“With this decision, the Commission is saying that Google has broken the law, by quashing innovation and restricting rival search engines and mobile operating systems. The sheer magnitude in the pattern of abuse of its market power by Google called for a fine commensurate to it, serving as a deterrent so Google stops this type of anticompetitive conduct in other global markets”.
“We will continue supporting the EC in its ongoing AdSense antitrust probe, and we are keen to see developments in the Google Shopping case to ensure that the remedies implemented by Google deliver a healthy, competitive marketplace with transparent choice for consumers’’.
MLex 25/2/19
Google’s EU remedy has cut back ‘fake’ shopping sites, Kelkoo says
Kelkoo, a vocal critic of Google and its auction system, said in a social media post last week that the search engine had “clamped down on the number of fake [comparison shopping services] overnight.”
It said that the programme Google runs to help shopping sites gain prominence previously featured 136 services, and now “only 49 remain“.
Despite the changes, Kelkoo remains critical of Google’s auction system. It told MLex: “The remedy in place still hasn’t instituted significant market change“. “Google continues to buy time, failing to answer for dominant anti-competitive behaviour”, a spokesperson said.
While Kelkoo welcomed the crackdown on “dire” fake shopping sites, the spokesperson said Google “must be penalised for its behaviour in the shopping space to ensure that innovation and transparency can thrive across Europe again for the consumer’s benefit.”