The list has increased the original request, Google has to pay 10 billion

In December last year, Seznam, the company behind the well-known Internet search engine of the same name, began to claim compensation in the amount of 9 billion Czech crowns from Google. It bases its claim on allegations that Google has restricted competition in Internet search services.

Abuse of a dominant position

More precisely, this should have been due to the abuse of a dominant position, when Google was favored in the ecosystem of the Android mobile operating system. Last year, the list calculated that the damage for the period from 2011 to 2018 amounted to 9.072 billion Czech crowns. He therefore began to claim this amount.

Looks like no action has been taken by Google yet. The list announced that it had increased the amount of compensation required by another billion Czech crowns. He is currently demanding payment of 10 billion Czech crowns from the American giant. The Novinky.cz portal dealt with the topic.

The increased amount will be part of the formal lawsuit that List is currently preparing. He justifies his decision by saying that even the recently adopted regulations from the European Commission have not remedied the situation sufficiently and that Google’s influence on the market will have far-reaching consequences than originally expected.

The concessions made so far are not enough

In 2018, the European Commission found Google guilty of violating competition rules. As a result, the preferred search engine selection screen has been introduced in the Android operating system.

An auction system was also launched, where alternative browsers could obtain individual positions on the selection screen, but in the end it cost them considerable funds. Simply put, they paid Google to get their search engine in one of the positions offered. Smaller players protested against this, who simply could not afford something like that. Following strong pressure and impending sanctions from the European Commission, the auction was canceled some time ago.

According to the representatives of the List, this step is not enough even, and it is accompanied by many shortcomings. A huge problem, for example, is that a change that allows more choice will only take effect on new Android devices. Specifically for those that will go on sale from September 2021. The list therefore clearly confirms.