EU suspects Google’s “site reputation abuse” policy may demote legitimate publishers in search results.
Google calls the investigation “misguided,” arguing the policy protects users from deceptive content.
If found guilty of violating the DMA, Google could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue.
The European Commission has launched a formal investigation into Google’s handling of site reputation abuse, raising concerns that the rules may be unfair to news organisations and other online publishers. The Commission announced on Thursday that preliminary findings indicate that Google may be demoting publishers in search results when their pages contain content created by commercial partners.
SurveyRegulators warned that such actions could disrupt a “legitimate and widely used” revenue model that many publishers use to monetise their websites. The inquiry will look into whether Google’s enforcement of this policy limits publishers’ ability to run their businesses, collaborate with third-party content providers, or develop new commercial strategies.
Google stated that the policy is intended to prevent spam, specifically websites that attempt to borrow ranking signals by hosting low-quality or outsourced content. The company’s rules are designed to prevent attempts to artificially boost visibility on Search by posting content from external sources that do not align with the site’s core purpose.
In response to the Commission’s move, Pandu Nayak, Google’s chief scientist for Search, stated that the investigation was “misguided” and could ultimately harm users across Europe. In a blog post, Nayak argued that a German court had previously rejected similar complaints, finding Google’s anti-spam policy reasonable and consistent.
He went on to say that the policy is important for maintaining the quality of search results by prohibiting pay-for-play schemes that allow low-effort or deceptive content to outrank original work.
Google may be fined up to 10% of its yearly global revenue if the EU’s investigation reveals that the tech giant violated the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Regulators have the power to mandate structural adjustments, prevent acquisitions, or even compel divestitures in cases of persistent or systemic violations.
In case you didn’t know, the company is already being investigated for allegedly favouring its own services in search results.
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Ashish Singh
Ashish Singh is the Chief Copy Editor at Digit. He's been wrangling tech jargon since 2020 (Times Internet, Jagran English '22). When not policing commas, he's likely fueling his gadget habit with coffee, strategising his next virtual race, or plotting a road trip to test the latest in-car tech. He speaks fluent Geek. View Full Profile
