1 of 2 | "Google Search supports millions of U.K. businesses to grow by reaching customers in innovative ways," a Google spokesperson said. "The CMA’s announcement today recognizes that." File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
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Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Britain's Competition and Markets Authority on Tuesday opened a probe over Google's search and advertising services on some of its European consumers.
The British watchdog announced the probe, carried out under the 2024 Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act in a post on social media.
"We've launched our first SMS investigation to determine if Google has strategic market status in its general search and search advertising activities," it said.
Google accounts for more than 90% of all search queries in Britain, according to the authority. And more than 200,000 British advertisers utilize its search advertising tools.
"Google Search supports millions of U.K. businesses to grow by reaching customers in innovative ways," a Google spokesperson told CNBC. "The CMA's announcement today recognizes that."
The CMA said it's looking to determine if Google has a "strategic market status" under Britain's and the first investigation under the new law and must be completed within 9 months, according to the British government.
"We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA to ensure that new rules benefit all types of websites, and still allow people in the U.K. to benefit from helpful and cutting-edge services," the Google official stated.
The DMCC is designed to stop anti-competitive behavior in online markets. An "SMS" designation gives the British CMA regulator extra authority to levy change and prevent other anti-competitive business behavior.
Effective competition, according to the CMA, could keep down the costs of search advertising, equivalent to nearly [$609] per household per year, in turn lowering prices across the economy.
It will assess Google's position in search, advertising services and how it impacts consumers and businesses on its platform including advertisers, news publishers, and rival search engines, CMA added.
CMA officials said the Google probe is to ensure a "level playing field" particularly as artificial intelligence alters the way people use Internet searches.
"It's our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal," said Sarah Cardell, the CMA's chief executive. "For example in how their data is collected and stored."
The search engage giant, meanwhile, is among companies which pledged at least $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next week, joining other tech colleagues like Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos as they cozy up to Trump.
This comes on the heels of a U.S. Justice Department bid in November to force Google to break-up its Chrome browser feature in what was seen as one of the harshest antitrust penalties ever slapped on a U.S.-based business since the tech boom.
"And for businesses, whether you are a rival search engine, an advertiser or a news organization," Cardell added, saying the CMA wants to "ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed."
Meanwhile, Google called for a "pro-innovation, evidence-based regime" in Britain and added that "overly prescriptive digital competition rules would end up stifling choice and opportunity for consumers and businesses," according to a blog post on Tuesday.
But on Tuesday, a British media leader called the CMA's announcement "very welcome news."
He called it the "first steps towards delivering on the promise of the new Digital Markets legislation to level the playing field between publishers and Google," Owen Meredith, chief executive of the London-based News Media Association in Britain, posted Tuesday on X.