The European Commission has launched a fresh probe into U.S. tech giant Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google over its news ranking practice in its search engine business.
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If found wanting, the EU executive arm could slam a penalty of up to 10% of global revenue, adding to a cumulative tally of $11 billion that Google has racked up from EU fines. The probe could further test the bloc’s strained diplomatic relations with the Trump administration.
Is Google Abusing Control over News Search Results?
The European executive branch is worried that Google might be abusing its control over how news search results are ranked on its browser.
The European Union watchdog on Thursday disclosed that its monitoring activities hinted that Google’s “site reputation abuse policy” might be punishing news sites and other publishers by ranking their content very low when the content contains materials from such organizations’ commercial partners.
EU Seeks to Protect News Publishers
While Google says the policy is aimed at websites and content that host low-quality third-party content to manipulate search rankings by riding on the authority of their sites, the Commission believes that the policy might be hurting publishers’ ability to monetize their websites and content.
“We will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry, and to ensure Google complies with the Digital Markets Act,” noted Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s executive vice president for clean, just and competitive transition.
The regulator plans to investigate the case over the next 12 months and will recommend remedial steps to Google afterwards. The EU first brought Google’s search engine business under its Digital Markets Act in September 2023.
EU Tightens Grip While Tweaking Rules
The Commission’s latest action comes at a time when the bloc is cracking down on Big Tech companies while also trying to ease up its regulatory standards.
The EU watchdog is reportedly making plans to enforce stricter content moderation rules on Meta Platforms (META), while also working to relax its privacy rules and artificial intelligence standards under its AI Act. It is also looking to online platforms to fight disinformation and protect democracy in the region.
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