As Bloomberg has found, Google – the US technology giant – recently submitted proposals aimed at solving the problem of intentionally lowering search results for publishers' websites that placed ads for some of their trading partners.
Bloomberg's sources say that if Google's offer – which includes changes to the company's anti-spam policy – is accepted by market competitors and EU regulators, a company can avoid being formally ordered to change its business practices under the Digital Markets Act (Digital Markets Act).
Google will also avoid potential penalties under the law, which allows regulators to impose fines of up to 10 percent. global annual revenues.
The investigation, which began late last year, is one of the latest conflicts between Google and EU regulators, which have already imposed billions of euros in fines in four different cases – by far the biggest ever for tech companies.
The current investigation focuses on whether Google continues to favor its own services (such as Google Shopping, Flights, and Hotels) over those of its competitors, which is a breach of the Digital Markets Act (Digital Markets Act), which entered into force in March 2024.
The Digital Markets Act is an EU regulation aimed at ensuring fair competition and open digital markets. It imposes strict obligations on the largest platforms, prohibiting favoritism of their own services and allowing greater choice for end users, e.g. in terms of browsers and applications.
Google said it “continues to cooperate constructively” with the European Commission. “Our priority is to ensure that search results are helpful and useful to users and protect them from deceptive practices such as 'parasitic SEO' spam,” Bloomberg quotes.
Source: Bloomberg
