Alphabet’s Google was hit with an EU antitrust investigation into its spam policy today following complaints from publishers who say it has hurt their revenues, putting the US tech giant at risk of yet another hefty fine.
The European Commission said its monitoring suggested Google is demoting news media and other publishers’ websites in search results when those sites include content from commercial partners. The move targets a widespread practice in which publishers monetise their websites by hosting third-party content. Officials said the policy appears to directly affect legitimate business activity.
Google introduced its site reputation abuse policy in March last year, aiming to prevent companies from gaming its search algorithm. The policy focuses on “parasite SEO,” where third-party pages are published on a host site to exploit its ranking signals and improve search visibility for another site.
“We are concerned that Google’s policies do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner in its search results,” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said in a statement. “We will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry, and to ensure Google complies with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).”
The DMA, which came into effect in 2023, gives the EU broad powers to regulate so-called digital gatekeepers. Violations can lead to fines of up to 10% of a company’s global annual sales.
Google pushed back against the investigation, arguing that it could undermine the quality of search results. Pandu Nayak, chief scientist at Google Search, wrote in a blog post that the probe is “misguided” and “without merit,” noting that a German court had previously dismissed a similar claim. He added that the company’s anti-spam policy is applied consistently and is intended to prevent deceptive tactics that allow some sites to outrank competitors unfairly.
Several European media groups have raised concerns about the policy. German media company ActMeraki filed a complaint with the Commission in April, while the European Publishers Council, the European Newspaper Publishers Association, and the European Magazine Media Association have also voiced grievances, saying the rules unfairly penalise legitimate websites.
Analysts say the case could have significant implications for Google’s operations in Europe, as the DMA has already been used in separate probes into the company’s search practices, including allegations that it favours its own vertical search services over rivals.
The EU investigation highlights growing scrutiny of Big Tech’s influence over online markets and content distribution, with regulators seeking to ensure that major platforms do not unfairly disadvantage businesses that rely on search traffic to generate revenue.
