The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday designated Google with a special status in the market for online search that would enable the regulator to enforce stricter regulations.
The CMA has designated Google as having “strategic market status” in the search and search advertising markets, which means the company has such “a substantial and entrenched” position that it requires special regulations to ensure fair competition.
“Google has had an unparalleled position in this digital activity for an extended period. Other traditional general search providers are significantly smaller than Google and have been for many years. Bing is the largest of these providers, but its current shares of queries and search advertising are both less than 5%. No traditional general search providers have materially grown relative to Google for at least fifteen years,” the CMA wrote in a report.
Although the designation does not mean that the CMA has found evidence of wrongdoing and does not introduce any immediate requirements, it does open the gates to launch further assessments and introduce interventions to change how Google runs its search services in the country, the CMA said.
The designation covers Google’s search and online search advertising services; its AI-enabled search features like AI Overviews and AI Mode; and the ‘Discover’ feed and results, as well as the “Top Stories” and News tab. It does not cover the Google News app and website, and search syndication services are also out of scope.
The CMA, however, noted that while Google’s Gemini AI assistant isn’t covered by the designation at the moment, it will review the scope of the designation given uncertainty over how the AI search market is evolving.
The regulator said it would launch a consultation on possible interventions later this year.
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The move follows a nine-month investigation into the company launched earlier this year after the U.K.’s new digital markets competition regime …