Google “Hijacked Millions of Customers and Orders” From Restaurants, Lawsuit Says
upstart writes:
Google "hijacked millions of customers and orders" from restaurants, lawsuit says:
Google is being sued by a Florida restaurant group alleging that the tech company has been setting up unauthorized pages to capture food orders rather than directing them to the restaurant's own site.
Google uses "bait-and-switch" tactics to get customers to place takeout or pickup orders through "new, unauthorized, and deceptively branded webpages," according to the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Left Field Holdings, a restaurant company that runs Lime Fresh Mexican Grill franchises. On those pages, customers are prompted with large buttons to order with food delivery companies like GrubHub, DoorDash, or Seamless.
"Google never bothered to obtain permission from the restaurants to sell their products online," the lawsuit says. "Google purposefully designed its websites to appear to the user to be offered, sponsored, and approved by the restaurant, when they are not-a tactic, no doubt, employed by Google to increase orders and clicks."
In a statement to Ars, Google disputed "the mischaracterizations of our product" and said it would be defending itself against the lawsuit. "Our goal is to connect customers with restaurants they want to order food from and make it easier for them to do it through the 'Order Online' button," spokesperson Jose Castaneda told Ars. "We provide tools for merchants to indicate whether they support online orders or prefer a specific provider, including their own ordering website. We do not receive any compensation for orders or integrations with this feature."
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.