UK’s antitrust regulator to investigate Google’s search services

By Paul Sandle and Muvija M

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s antitrust regulator said on Tuesday it would investigate Google (NASDAQ:)’s search to see how it impacts consumers and businesses, including advertisers, news publishers and rival search engines.

The Competition and Markets Authority, which has gained new powers to examine big tech, said search was vital for economic growth and it was critical that competition was working well.

“Millions of people and businesses relied on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90% of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there,” CMA boss Sarah Cardell said in a statement.

“It’s our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal.”

Google said it was trusted by people across Britain.

“Google Search supports millions of UK businesses to grow by reaching customers in innovative ways,” a spokesperson said.

“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 UK to benefit from helpful and cutting edge services,” the spokesperson added.

The CMA’s move comes after U.S. prosecutors in November argued to a judge that Google must sell its Chrome browser, share data, and search results with rivals, and take a range of other measures to end its monopoly on online search.

Under its new powers, the CMA must designate firms as having Strategic Market Status (SMS) in relation to a digital activity before it can investigate.

It said it would assess whether Google had SMS in both search and in search advertising, and whether it should then impose conduct requirements or intervene in the market.

It will examine barriers to entry and innovation in search and whether Google was using its market dominance to offer preferential treatment for its own services.

Google’s collection and use of large quantities of consumer data will also be looked at, it added.

The result of the investigation, which will take up to nine months, could include requiring Google to make the data available to other businesses or giving publishers more control over how their data is used, including in Google’s AI services.