Google Adapts EU Search Policy to Avoid Antitrust Fines
Google has revised its search spam policy in Europe to comply with EU regulations and avoid potential antitrust penalties. The move comes after European regulators expressed concerns that Google's site reputation abuse policy unfairly penalized publishers and other business users of Google Search.
The policy change, which takes effect on August 30, will no longer demote news media and other publishers' websites in search results if they include commercial content from third-party partners. The revised policy applies to the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the 27 EU nations, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein.
The EU Commission's investigation under the Digital Markets Act prompted Google to make the changes. The DMA aims to rein in the power of Big Tech companies by imposing fines of up to 10% of their global annual turnover for breaches.