In response to antitrust regulators, Google is introducing changes to the search results it provides to users in Europe, stating that the move will “degrade the user experience for Europeans”.
The company is implementing these changes in order to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act after having been fined €460 million ($534 million) earlier this year for giving increased prominence to its own services.
Google cautions that the changes will benefit online intermediaries at the cost of local businesses, while the EU says they will create a level playing field. Users outside of the EU will remain unaffected.
Why Google Is Changing Search Results in Europe
Earlier in the year European regulators imposed a fine of €460 million ($534 million) on Google for giving more prominence in its search results to its own services, a practice which breaches the Digital Markets Act; Google is liable to additional fines of up to five per cent of its global turnover if it does not comply, a situation that is prompting the necessary changes.
“In order to meet the DMA requirements, we are introducing major changes to Search in Europe,” said Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice-president of knowledge and information.
“The changes will worsen the user experience for people in Europe, favouring online intermediaries over local businesses and getting rid of helpful features that users rely on every day. Changes of this kind will not affect users outside the EU.”
Google and EU Views on the Search Changes
Google and the European Union give different accounts of the changes. Google argues that they will make the experience for users in Europe worse and result in higher costs for businesses there. The European Union, on the other hand, says the changes will create a level playing field for businesses.
Before introducing the changes in Europe, Google stated that it had tested them with a certain proportion of its users. The company notes that these users were dissatisfied with the way the search results were displayed to them.
Nevertheless, Google claims that the prospect of facing additional fines was sufficient to cause it to make changes which it considers not to be in the best interests of its users.
The alterations concern Google Search users in Europe and are being implemented in order to comply with the Digital Markets Act; users outside the EU are not affected. Google has not specified in this statement exactly which features will be removed or altered or provided a full timeline for the rollout throughout Europe.
