The changes were outlined to be in violation of the DMA as per sources familiar with the issue. Many regulators were not happy with Google’s decision. Moreover, the big picture is the EU has been investigating Google since the start of March 2023.
The concerns had to do with Google favoring its own offerings including hotels, flights, and shopping, against other competitors in the industry for search. The Android maker made some recent tweaks to the results that were designed to address the concerns of both the industry and regulators.
Critics were seen arguing about how Google’s steps to make regulators happy were not good enough. However, the search engine giant tried to defend itself by claiming that this is the most that could be done as any further tweaks would get rid of useful offerings to users.
Between those lines, the regulators in the EU were said to be super frustrated by the company’s growing threats to switch basic search results to basic blue links, in cases when stricter demands were imposed.
Today, the DMA prohibits self-preferencing by companies and carries penalties of nearly 10% of the global yearly revenue. The changes are important because they signal a huge escalation in the region’s effort to overcome Google’s dominance. This may eventually give rise to serious fines.
In cases when the EU forces Google to alter ranking algorithms or portray formats, it could produce new opportunities for competitors to benefit from. Similarly, it would alter the existing placement for ads.
Stricter enforcement for this DMA is certainly going to make the playing field more leveled for many. It would reduce the company’s dominance in terms of ad distribution. There will be heavy reliance on the firm’s ecosystem. Experts want website owners to monitor the developments in a closer manner to adapt strategies in the right way.
Google’s fines are expected to arrive in the next few months. This is similar to the period when we find the verdicts for both Meta and Apple for similar fines. Their investigation began at a more advanced stage than this one.
Another leading probe into the firm will focus on whether it will restrict app developers from telling users about external offers outside the Google Play Store. We’re also seeing a lot of regulatory pressure faced by Google in the EU. these fines are going to set the precedent for how the law is enforced against big tech giants.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
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