Google faces first major probe under UK’s tough new antitrust rules

LONDON – Britain’s competition watchdog opened an investigation on Tuesday Google research services, marking its first major probe under the country’s new competition rules.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it is looking to assess whether Google has “strategic market status” (SMS) under the UK’s new Markets, Competition and Consumer Act (DMCC).

The DMCC, which officially entered into force on January 1, aims to prevent anti-competitive behavior in digital markets. Designating a company as having “SMS” would give the regulator the power to impose changes to prevent anti-competitive behaviour.

Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said the regulator was examining Google’s dominance of the search market to ensure a “level playing field” – especially as artificial intelligence changes the way people search online .

“It’s our job to make sure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in research services and get a fair deal – for example in how their data is collected and stored,” said Cardell.

“And for businesses, whether you’re a rival search engine, an advertiser or a news organization, we want to make sure there’s a level playing field for all businesses, big and small, to succeed,” he added.

The CMA move follows an offer from the US Department of Justice to forcing Google to give up its Chrome browser. The DOJ filed to break the internet giant after finding that it has a monopoly in the search market.

The regulator on Tuesday highlighted Google’s dominant position in the UK search market as a primary point of concern.

Google accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries in the UK, and more than 200,000 advertisers in the country use the company’s search advertising tools, according to the CMA.

Research is “vital to economic growth”, the CMA said, explaining that its role in connecting businesses with other businesses, investors and customers means it is “critical” that competition works well.

“Google Search supports millions of UK businesses to grow by reaching customers in innovative ways. The CMA’s announcement today recognizes that,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC by email.

“We will continue to engage constructively with the CMA to ensure that the new rules benefit all types of websites, and still allow people in the UK to benefit from useful and cutting-edge services,” the Google spokesperson added .

The CMA added that effective competition in research was necessary to ensure a fair treatment of news publishers for the use of their content.

With new AI-based search methods such as OpenAI and Perplexity emerging, the CMA said it is also concerned about Google’s position in the market potentially putting new and innovative players at a disadvantage.