Alphabet owned Google is facing a fresh antitrust investigation in Europe after several online publishers complained that the company’s anti spam measures have reduced their visibility in search results and hurt their revenues.
The European Commission announced on Thursday that it will examine whether Google’s spam policy unfairly penalises legitimate publishers and violates the Digital Markets Act.
Google introduced stricter rules in March last year to curb “site reputation abuse,” a practice often called parasite SEO. It involves third party content being published on high ranking websites to exploit their authority and achieve better search visibility. Google says the policy is designed to protect users from low quality and deceptive content.
Publishers Say Revenues Are Falling
According to the European Commission, early monitoring shows that Google’s enforcement of the policy has led to the demotion of news outlets and other publishers in search rankings whenever those sites host content from commercial partners. Regulators say this type of collaboration is a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetise their platforms at a time when the industry faces sharp declines in advertising income.
EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the Commission is concerned that Google may not be treating news publishers in a fair or non discriminatory manner. She said the investigation will assess whether Google’s approach restricts publisher revenues and whether the company is complying with the Digital Markets Act, which imposes strict obligations on large digital platforms.
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said Alphabet must comply with the obligations to provide publishers fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory general access conditions to Google Search. “Our targeted investigation aims to protect publishers’ funding, their freedom to conduct business and ultimately media pluralism and our democracy,” Henna Virkkunen said.
Google Calls EU Action Misguided
Google strongly rejected the Commission’s concerns. Pandu Nayak, chief scientist at Google Search, said the investigation risks lowering search quality for millions of European users. He argued that the company’s spam policy ensures a level playing field by preventing websites from using manipulative tactics to outrank others that rely on original content, Reuters news report said.
Google also pointed out that a German court had already dismissed a similar complaint, ruling that the spam policy was valid and applied consistently.
The case was triggered by complaints from German media company ActMeraki earlier this year. Several major industry bodies, including the European Publishers Council, the European Newspaper Publishers Association and the European Magazine Media Association, have also raised concerns.
Google Faces Severe Penalties if Found in Breach
The investigation falls under the Digital Markets Act, which aims to curb the dominance of major technology companies operating as “gatekeepers.” Under the law, violations can lead to fines of up to ten percent of a company’s global annual revenue.
The EU’s new scrutiny adds to the growing regulatory pressure facing Google in Europe, where competition authorities have repeatedly challenged the company’s advertising business, data practices and platform policies. The outcome of this case will be closely watched across the publishing and digital advertising sectors as Europe continues its broader effort to reshape how Big Tech operates in the region.
Baburajan Kizhakedath