Google hit by fresh EU probe into suspected news search abuse
There are suspicions that it is pushing down results for publishers’ websites when they include content from commercial partners
[BRUSSELS] Google is under investigation by the European Union antitrust watchdogs.
This is over concerns that it unfairly demotes some news results in a probe that risks adding to its 9.5 billion euros (S$14.4 billion) EU fines tally, and worsening fraught relations with the Trump administration.
The European Commission said on Thursday (Nov 13) that it suspects the Alphabet unit may be violating the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), by pushing down results for publishers’ websites when they include content from commercial partners.
“We will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry,” EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said.
Under the guise of its “site reputation abuse policy”, the commission said that Google appears to “directly impact a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetise their websites and content”.
The EU’s antitrust arm aims to conclude its probe within 12 months, potentially paving the way for fines as high as 10 per cent of global annual sales, if any negative findings are not addressed.
In a blog post, Google Search chief scientist Pandu Nayak said that the EU investigation into what Google calls its anti-spam efforts is “entirely misguided and risks harming millions of European users”.
The company argues that its policy is needed to prevent paid-for third-party material on publishers’ websites from appearing higher up on the search results than is merited.
The fresh probe comes on the heels of a September fine of almost three billion euros against Google, for allegedly favouring its own advertising technology services over rivals, which provoked the ire of US President Donald Trump, who slammed the fine as “discriminatory”.
That September penalty follows a 4.1 billion euro Android penalty, and a 2.4 billion euro fine for crushing shopping search rivals. A 1.5 billion euro AdSense levy was annulled last year.
Furthermore, Google continues to face broader scrutiny under the DMA in Brussels.
The law came onto the EU’s books in 2023, and is designed to clip the wings of the world’s largest technology platforms with a slew of dos and don’ts.
In a separate case, the company was chastised earlier this year for allegedly breaching the regulation by favouring in-house services across its sprawling search empire.
It was also admonished for preventing app developers from steering consumers to offers outside its Play Store – accusations for which it has since attempted to find solutions to, while the threat of further fines looms large. BLOOMBERG
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