Key facts
- Google is altering its European search results to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
- The company warns these changes will lead to lower quality search results and negatively impact European businesses.
- The EU's antitrust regulations, particularly the DMA, are the driving force behind these modifications.
- Google previously received a €460 million fine in July for favoring its own services.
- The new results will prioritize specialized search engines and price comparison sites over direct business listings.
Alphabet's Google has introduced significant alterations to its search results in Europe to comply with the European Union's antitrust regulations, specifically the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The company warned that these changes, described as the most substantial reduction in service quality in its 29-year history, will degrade the user experience and increase operational costs for European businesses. Google stated that the EU's requirements, aimed at leveling the advertising playing field, disproportionately favor price comparison sites and specialized vertical search services (VSS) over direct business listings that include websites, phone numbers, and addresses.
These modifications follow a €460 million fine imposed on Google in July for favoring its own services in various search result categories, a breach of the DMA. The European Commission had given Google 60 days to comply or face potential periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of its global turnover. The revamped search results will now prominently feature one specialized search engine, followed by two others with less detail, and a carousel of services like hotels and airlines will appear with stripped-out key features such as real-time prices. Google's algorithm will determine the rankings.
Nick Fox, Google's senior vice-president for knowledge and information, stated that the changes "degrade the user experience for Europeans - boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses, and removing helpful features people rely on every day." Users outside the EU will not be affected. Google also noted that previous changes made to comply with the DMA resulted in a 30% decrease in direct booking traffic to European businesses, and similar impacts are expected from the latest adjustments. User testing in Europe indicated high dissatisfaction, with users needing to retype queries to find desired information. Google has accumulated a total of €10.38 billion in EU antitrust penalties over nearly two decades, drawing criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump, who had threatened to investigate the EU's actions against American companies.