They may now have to re-think their entire business models as a result.
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Foundem found itself demoted from Googles search results.
Unless you specifically searched for it, it would only appear after several pages of browsing.
Without consumers redirected from the dominant search engine, Foundem never really took off.
Over the years, several other comparison services such as Expedia and Yelp joined the complaint.
In all, Google is fighting along seriesof similar cases on appeal against the commission.
This is where Googles fine over Froogle becomes really serious.
The estate of Google is called Alphabet, and80% ofAlphabets revenue comes from Google ads.
The problem arises when a company like Google tries to keep consumers on their estate by hindering competitors.
Google and other tech giants know almost everything about us because they gather information from so many different sources.
The logic of the current judgment is that those sources should work as separate entities.
This case also confirms divergent approaches to competition policy in the EU and US.
The main objective of competition policy, both in the US and Europe, is to protect consumers.
European regulators have taken a radically different approach.
The same essential objection has now been applied to Google.
