Google Updates Spam Policy to Avert EU Antitrust Fine

Google has updated its spam policy in Europe to address concerns from EU regulators that could have led to an antitrust fine. The tech giant's site reputation abuse policy targets websites that publish third-party pages to manipulate search rankings, a practice known as parasite SEO.

The European Commission, which enforces the Digital Markets Act, had opened an investigation into Google's spam policy after publishers complained about its demotion of news media and other sites' content in search results. The policy change will apply to users in the 27 EU nations, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein from August 30.

Under the Digital Markets Act, companies can face fines of up to 10% of their global annual turnover for DMA breaches. Google's updated spam policy will not affect its operations outside the European Economic Area.