The European Commission is planning a new investigation into Google based on its demotion of the rankings of news outlets that host third-party content, the Financial Times reported, citing two unnamed officials.
The Commission’s investigation comes after Google last year began cracking down on what it calls “parasite search-engine optimisation (SEO)”, arguing that it involves publishers abusing their high search rankings to host unrelated commercial content.
Publishers, however, say hosting third-party content such as sponsored articles is key to their business model.
Publisher rankings
The Commission is reportedly planning to investigate the situation under the Digital Markets Act, which prohibits large platforms from unfairly disadvantaging groups that rely on their offerings.
DMA violations can result in fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s global annual turnover.
Google said in November 2024 that the use of third-party content on a publisher’s site was “unfair” and “exploitative” as it tightened rules on such content.
In September, the Commission levied a €2.95 billion (£2.6bn) fine against Google for alleged anticompetitive practices in the advertising technology industry, its fourth large competition fine in the bloc.
In addition to the fine, the Commission ordered Google to cease the self-preferencing practices and take measures to address its “inherent conflicts of interest along the adtech supply chain”.
Google said the decision was “wrong” and that it would appeal.
Regulatory pressure
The company is also working with the EU to come into regulatory compliance in the way it handles specialised search for hotels, airlines, restaurants and other sectors, and restrictions it places on developers that prevent them from informing users of better deals outside of its Play Store app store.
Google was ruled to have an illegal search monopoly in a US decision last year, while it and smartphone competitor Apple face similar regulatory pressures over their app stores in the US and other jurisdictions.
