Britain’s competition watchdog has commenced investigations into Google’s dominant position in the search engine market as well as its impacts on consumers and businesses.
According to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the investigation comes under the new digital markets competition regime which came into force on 1 January 2025.
“The investigation will assess Google’s position in search and search advertising services and how this impacts consumers and businesses including advertisers, news publishers, and rival search engines.
“Google’s innovative services have generated significant benefits in the UK. Its search services are a gateway through which millions of people and businesses access and navigate the internet. In the UK, Google accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries, and more than 200,000 UK advertisers use Google’s search advertising. Search is vital for economic growth.”
With this investigation, the agency aims to uncover, whether Google is hindering its competitors from entering the market or whether it is engaging in ‘potential exploitative conduct.’
Potential conduct requirements could include, for example, requirements on Google to make the data it collects available to other businesses or giving publishers more control over how their data is used including in Google’s AI services.
This investigation by CMA is expected to take nine months.
The Chief Executive of the CMA, Sarah Cardell, said “Millions of people and businesses across the UK rely on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90 per cent of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there. That’s why it’s so important to ensure these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses and that there is a level playing field, especially as AI has the potential to transform search services.
It’s our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal – for example in how their data is collected and stored. And for businesses, whether you are a rival search engine, an advertiser or a news organisation, we want to ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed.”
The investigation could lead to the US tech giant being handed “strategic market status,” subjecting it to special requirements under new UK regulations, the Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement.
