The European Commission has launched an investigation into how Google is implementing its site reputation abuse policy and its impact on publishers. The Commission stated on Thursday that it had found signs Google is using the policy to push news media and other publishers’ websites lower in search rankings when they include content from their business partners. It also said the policy appears to directly impact a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetize their websites and content.
The European Commission is now investigating if Google’s policy impacts publishers’ freedom to conduct legitimate business, innovate, and cooperate with third-party content providers. According to Google, the policy measures are aimed at curbing websites that seek to manipulate search rankings by publishing other websites’ content in an attempt to take advantage of their high ranking signal.
Google has responded to the investigation. Pandu Nayak, chief scientist of Search at Google, wrote that the investigation is misguided and risks harming millions of European users. He stated the investigation is without merit, noting a German court has already dismissed a similar claim and ruled that Google’s anti-spam policy was valid, reasonable, and applied consistently. He added that Google’s anti-spam policy is essential to fighting deceptive pay-for-play tactics that degrade search results. He said the policy helps level the playing field so that websites using deceptive tactics do not outrank websites competing on the merits with their own content.
If the investigation yields proof that Google infringed the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, the Commission can charge fines worth up to ten percent of Alphabet’s global annual turnover. If the Commission finds the infringement is systematic, it can also impose remedies. These remedies can include forced divestiture of businesses or banning the company from making acquisitions related to the infringement.
The European Commission in 2023 designated Google Search as a core platform service under the Digital Markets Act. This designation gives the bloc’s executive arm extra powers to regulate the tech giant. Google Search is already under a separate investigation for breaching Digital Markets Act rules related to self-preferential treatment of its own services.