U.K. Regulator Launches Probe into Google’s Search Dominance

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened an investigation into Google’s dominance in search and advertising services. The inquiry, announced under new regulations effective January 1, will assess Google’s impact on businesses, advertisers, alternative search engines, and consumers.

The CMA will use its authority to examine whether Google, with its “strategic market status,” is hindering competition, stifling innovation, or unfairly leveraging its market power. With Google handling 90% of U.K. search traffic and serving over 200,000 advertisers, CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell stressed the importance of ensuring a level playing field, particularly as AI reshapes search technologies.

“It’s our job to ensure people benefit from choice and innovation while businesses, big and small, have fair access to compete,” Cardell said. The investigation will scrutinize potential self-preferencing practices, data usage without consent, and unfair treatment of publisher content.

Google responded via blog post, saying it welcomes the investigation and is prepared to demonstrate how its services benefit U.K. consumers and businesses. “We support regulatory alignment with the government’s growth mission,” the company stated.

The CMA may mandate Google to share anonymized data with competitors or grant publishers greater control over content usage. The investigation is expected to conclude by October.

This inquiry adds to Google’s growing antitrust challenges, including a U.S. court ruling in August that declared its search monopoly and a €2.4 billion fine from the European Commission upheld by the EU Court of Justice in September.

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U.K. Regulator Launches Probe into Google’s Search Dominance

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