Ritika Janiya
Imagine spending years building something you believe in, only to watch it struggle at the hands of a tech giant. That’s exactly what happened to Shivaun and Adam Raff. Their story is one of resilience, patience, and a relentless drive for fairness.
A Rough Start for Foundem
In June 2006, Shivaun and Adam were on the brink of launching their passion project, Foundem—a price comparison website they had spent years creating from scratch. They had sacrificed stable, well-paying jobs to build something they believed could make shopping easier for people everywhere. But their excitement quickly turned to confusion and disappointment when, right after launch, Foundem’s visibility plummeted on Google search results.
With Foundem hidden in the depths of search pages, they knew they were in trouble. “It was like being erased from the internet,” Adam explained. For a site that earned money when users clicked through to retailers, losing visibility was disastrous.
The Mystery of the Disappearing Website
The Raffs noticed Foundem wasn’t just ranking low on Google; it was ranking well on other search engines, meaning their website wasn’t the problem. Despite reaching out to Google, the couple received no answers. Instead, their website stayed hidden, costing them valuable traffic—and money.
At first, they hoped it was just an error—a glitch in Google’s spam filters. “We thought maybe we were flagged by mistake,” said Shivaun. But as months passed with no change, they began to suspect there was something more deliberate at play.
A Turning Point in the Fight
After two years of silence from Google, the couple decided it was time to take action. They reached out to regulators, took their story to the press, and finally filed a complaint with the European Commission. By this time, Foundem wasn’t alone—other companies, like Kelkoo, Yelp, and Trivago, had faced similar struggles with Google. Together, they claimed Google was unfairly pushing their websites down in search results to promote its own shopping services.
In 2010, their hard work paid off when the European Commission launched an investigation into Google’s search practices. For Shivaun and Adam, it was a small victory in a very long journey.
A Long Legal Battle Begins
Their fight was far from over. Over the next seven years, Google fought to defend itself, using every resource it had. However, in 2017, the European Commission ruled against Google, stating that it had indeed abused its power by prioritizing its own services over competitors. The result? A massive €2.4 billion fine, which was approximately £2 billion at the time.
For the Raffs, this was a groundbreaking moment. They had not only fought for their own company but for other businesses that had been affected by Google’s dominance in search. The case also set a precedent for regulating Big Tech, making it clear that even the biggest corporations could be held accountable.
Reflecting on Their Journey
In their first interview since the verdict, Adam and Shivaun described their feelings during the early years of their struggle. Adam remembered thinking Foundem was just another website starting out, while Google wasn’t even a major player in online shopping at that time. But by the end of 2008, things started to look suspicious.
It was around Christmas that they received an email about their site loading slower than usual. For a brief moment, they thought it was a cyberattack. But, in reality, it was simply that so many people were trying to access their site after Foundem was named the UK’s top price comparison website by Channel 5’s The Gadget Show. Excited, they approached Google, hopeful that their success might change things. Instead, Google’s response was dismissive.
“That was the moment we knew we needed to fight back,” Adam said.
The European Commission Steps In
The Raffs had taken their complaints to authorities in the UK and the US, but it was in Brussels that they finally found support. During their first meeting with the European Commission, the regulators seemed puzzled. “They asked why no one else had come forward if this was a real problem,” Shivaun recalled.
Gradually, other affected companies came forward, and what started as a single case grew into a much larger investigation.
A Victory for Many
In 2017, after years of dedication and countless hours spent building their case, the European Commission handed down its final verdict. Google had to pay up—a massive €2.4 billion. This wasn’t just a win for the Raffs, it was a win for all small businesses striving to compete fairly in a world dominated by giants. Google spent years appealing the decision, but in September 2023, the European Court of Justice upheld the fine.
For Shivaun and Adam, it was the end of a chapter filled with obstacles, hope, and ultimately, triumph. “We didn’t know how long it would take, but we believed in what we were doing,” said Shivaun. Their journey served as a reminder that big companies can’t always have it their way and that a determined voice can lead to real change.
Lessons Learned and Moving Forward
Reflecting on their journey, Shivaun and Adam expressed pride in standing up for fairness. Although Foundem itself was unable to survive, their efforts had a lasting impact. This case has encouraged other businesses to speak out if they face unfair treatment from bigger companies, and it has shown regulators worldwide that no company should be above the rules.
The story of Shivaun and Adam Raff is about more than a website—it’s about resilience, believing in fairness, and standing up for what’s right, even against one of the biggest tech giants in the world.
With determination, they showed the world that every voice, no matter how small, can make a difference.
