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Once a thriving start-up, the price-comparison website Foundem fell victim to Google’s search penalty in 2006. Their 15-year battle against Big Tech paved the way for global digital antitrust cases.
In a remarkable David-and-Goliath tale, a British couple, Shivaun and Adam Raff, has successfully challenged tech giant Google, leading to a landmark ruling and a record Rs 21,824 crore fine for anti-competitive practices that affected their company, Foundem.
The couple’s journey began in 2006 when they launched Foundem, a price-comparison website designed to simplify online shopping by comparing prices across different platforms. Foundem went live in June of that year, but its early momentum was abruptly stunted due to a penalty imposed by Google.
The Google penalty, which means a website is no longer listed on search results, led to Foundem’s burial in the search engine’s rankings for terms like “price comparison” and “comparison shopping” — the very foundation of their business model.
The website, which relied on clicks to generate revenue, struggled to turn a profit. “We saw our rankings plummet almost immediately,” said Adam as quoted by the BBC.
At first, the Raffs believed it to be a technical error and appealed to Google, confident it would be resolved. However, two years passed without a resolution, and despite functioning normally on other search engines, Foundem remained obscured on Google’s platform. “Everyone’s using Google,” Shivaun noted, highlighting the platform’s dominance.
In 2008, after receiving an award from Channel 5’s The Gadget Show, Foundem briefly regained some visibility. The Raffs reached out to Google again, hoping the recognition would underscore Foundem’s legitimacy, but Google’s response only deepened their suspicions of unfair treatment.
The Raffs then took their case to regulatory bodies in the UK, the US, and ultimately Brussels. Their persistence paid off in 2010 when the European Commission (EC) launched an investigation into Google’s practices.
In 2017, the EC ruled against Google, declaring the company guilty of abusing its market dominance and imposing a Euro 2.4 billion (Rs 21,824 crore) fine. This case became a milestone in global Big Tech regulation.
However, Google responded by launching a series of appeals, prolonging the legal battle for years. In September 2024, Europe’s top court upheld the initial verdict, confirming that Google’s actions violated competitive standards.
However, for the Raffs, the battle was far from over. Google spent years appealing the decision, with Europe’s top court ultimately upholding the verdict in September 2024.
Even after this final defeat, Google maintains that its current practices comply with the ruling. Meanwhile, the EC is investigating Google’s parent company, Alphabet, under the new Digital Markets Act, to examine whether its practices remain anti-competitive.
For the Raffs, the fight continues. Having been forced to shut down Foundem in 2016, they are now pursuing a civil damages claim against Google, with proceedings set to begin in 2026.
The journey has been gruelling for the Raffs, and though they were forced to shut down Foundem in 2016, the couple remains committed to challenging tech monopolies.
INDIA TODAY