Google is under investigation by Britain’s competition watchdog over the impact of its search and advertising practices on consumers, news publishers, businesses and rival search engines.
The technology company accounts for more than 90% of general searches in the UK, according to the Competition and Markets Authority.
The CMA estimates that search advertising costs UK households nearly £500 a year, but effective competition can help reduce this cost.
The watchdog on Tuesday asked whether Google is blocking competitors from entering the market and engaging in “potentially exploitative practices” such as collecting large amounts of consumer data without informed consent. announced that it would investigate.
It will also investigate whether Google uses its status as the preeminent search engine to give its shopping and travel services an unfair advantage.
The investigation is expected to take up to nine months, and Google will share the vast amount of data it collects with other companies and give publishers greater control over how their books, newspaper articles, music and other content is used. You may be forced to give. Google’s artificial intelligence system continues to grow rapidly.
The investigation is the first the watchdog has launched since the new digital market competition regime came into force in the UK on 1 January 2025, allowing UK authorities to issue ‘conduct requirements’ to technology companies. becomes.
Anti-regulatory pressure from the United States is increasing ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Last week, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg attacked European countries for the “increasing number of laws that institutionalize censorship and make it harder to build innovation.” He promised to “work with President Trump to stop governments around the world from targeting American companies.”
On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to “mainstream AI into the veins” of the UK and become a “trusted partner” for AI companies with a “pro-growth, pro-innovation” approach to regulation.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the EU is reevaluating its own investigations into US technology companies including Google, Meta and Apple. In the past 10 months, the company launched an investigation under EU digital markets regulations, which the Financial Times reported could lead to the probe being scaled back or its powers changed.
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Google’s study will examine the impact of standard search, the Google Ads platform, and the Gemini AI assistant.
CMA Chief Executive Sara Cardel said: “Our job is to help people maximize the benefits of choice and innovation in search services, and to ensure that they get a fair deal on, for example, how their data is collected and stored.” Whether it’s search engines, advertisers, or news organizations, we want to ensure a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed. ”
The CMA has already announced that it will launch a second investigation into major technology companies later this month. The investigation process involved the CMA first identifying companies with a “strategic market position” in relation to a particular digital activity. To qualify, you must have ‘substantive and established market power’ in a digital activity that has a UK and global turnover of at least £25bn, or a UK turnover of at least £1bn. There is.
A Google spokesperson said: ‘People across the UK trust Google Search to help them find what they need. Today’s announcement from the CMA recognizes that ‘search is essential to economic growth’. We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA to ensure that the new rules benefit websites of all types and that people in the UK benefit from helpful, cutting-edge services. ”
