Google Could Face New Search Oversight From UK Watchdog

Google could face new restrictions on its search business in the U.K.

The potential changes comes as the country’s antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), announced Tuesday (June 24) said it is weighing a proposal that would give Google “strategic market status,” a designation under new competition rules for tech companies that hold higher levels of power in their markets.

“Google is the world’s leading search tool and plays an important role in all our lives, with the average person in the UK making 5 to 10 searches a day,” Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said in a news release.

“It is equally critical for over 200,000 UK businesses which rely on Google to reach their customers. Google search has delivered tremendous benefits — but our investigation so far suggests there are ways to make these markets more open, competitive and innovative,” Cardell added.

The CMA said its investigation has found concerns about Google, including a complaint that its index of billions of websites, its access to trillions of historical searches, and its information ecosystem of information, are difficult for others to replicate.

The regulator also heard concerns about higher costs of search advertising than would be found in a more competitive market, as well as “limited transparency and fairness in how Google ranks and presents search results.”

Earlier this year, the CMA was given added competition and merger control powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which lets the watchdog enforce consumer protections on tech giants and take action like levying fines of up to 10% of global annual revenues for violations.

According to the CMA announcement, the regulator has proposed a list of measures for Google if the strategic market status designation goes forward. These include new controls over how publishers’ content is used, including for artificial intelligence (AI)-generated responses, as well as “portability of consumer search data to support product innovation.”

A report on the CMA’s decision by CNBC includes a response from Google, which said the outcome of these changes “could have significant implications for businesses and consumers” in Great Britain.

“The CMA has today reiterated that ‘strategic market status’ does not imply that anti-competitive behaviour has taken place — yet this announcement presents clear challenges to critical areas of our business in the UK,” said Oliver Bethell, Google’s senior director for competition. “We’re concerned that the scope of the CMA’s considerations remains broad and unfocused, with a range of interventions being considered before any evidence has been provided.”