Google reportedly offers to display rival shopping sites via an auction
- Tuesday, September 19th, 2017
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Google has reportedly offered to display rival shopping comparison sites via an auction, following the EU ruling that told the tech giant to stop favouring its own shopping service.
According to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter, the proposal would enable competitors to bid for any spot in Google’s Product Listing Ads.
The proposal, which follows a similar one three years ago, was submitted to the European Commission on 29 August following the record-breaking €2.4bn (£2.14bn) fine Google picked up as a result of the EU antitrust ruling. It would see Google set a floor price with its own bids minus operating costs. 
Despite Google’s attempts to please the EU’s competition regulators, it is unlikely the proposal will be accepted, as it doesn’t address the issues set out. The Commission ordered Google to treat its rivals equally to its own service, and this proposal still falls short of doing that.
