Overview
- The European Commission says monitoring indicates Google lowers the visibility of news and other publishers when pages include commercial partner or sponsored material.
- Officials stress the inquiry targets third‑party and sponsored content on publishers’ sites rather than the indexing of their journalism or overall news coverage.
- Publishers and trade groups, including ActMeraki and European press associations, have complained of lost visibility and revenue tied to Google’s site reputation abuse policy.
- Google calls the investigation misguided, citing a German court’s dismissal of a similar claim and arguing its parasite‑SEO crackdown protects users and search quality.
- If the Commission finds a DMA breach, penalties can reach up to 10% of global turnover with potential structural remedies for repeat violations, while separately Google has proposed adtech changes to avoid a breakup after a €2.95 billion EU fine.