Google's online search empire is the target of a new investigation under Britain's sweeping new online antitrust laws, officials announced Tuesday.
Britain's antitrust watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority, is investigating whether Google has a “strategic market position”. The designation could subject the company to a crackdown under the country's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, which came into force this year.
CMA chief executive Sara Cardell said in a statement: “We want to ensure people can get the most out of choice and innovation in search services, and get fair deals on, for example, how their data is collected and stored. It's our job,” he said in a statement.
“And for businesses, whether it's competing search engines, advertisers or news organizations, we want to make sure there's a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed,” Cardel said. added.
According to a press release, UK authorities will investigate “Google's position in search and search advertising services and how this impacts consumers and businesses, including advertisers, news publishers, and competing search engines.” It's planned.
The CMA points out that Google “accounts for over 90% of common search queries and over 200,000 advertisers in the UK use Google search advertising,” and that search is “crucial for economic growth.” ”.
Google becomes the first company to be investigated under UK law relating to its potential “strategic market position”. The CMA has indicated it will investigate other companies in the coming weeks.
“People across the UK trust Google Search to help them find what they need,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “Google Search helps millions of businesses in the UK grow by reaching customers in innovative ways.”
Google “continues to engage constructively with the CMA to ensure the new rules benefit all types of websites and that people in the UK benefit from convenient, cutting-edge services,” a spokesperson said. added.
The investigation is another headache for Google, which has come under intense antitrust scrutiny in the United States and Europe for its practices in online search, digital advertising and other elements of its business.
Last August, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google had an illegal monopoly on online search. He is expected to decide by this summer what remedies to address the monopoly issue.
In November, the Justice Department formally asked Mehta to consider forcing Google to sell its Chrome web browser as one of several ways to break Google's market dominance.
Elsewhere, Google faces another Justice Department case targeting its digital advertising empire.
