Google's Nick Fox Claims EU Compliance Changes Have Degraded Search Engine
Google's senior vice president Nick Fox claims that European compliance changes have 'degraded' the search engine, making it worse for Europeans. Fox made this statement in a video interview published on YouTube by University of Antwerp PhD student Pietro Valetto.
Fox cited specific examples of features removed from Google Search due to EU competition law, including real-time airfares and the option to search for a trip by date. He also mentioned that Google has been forced to 'pull back' on spam protections in Europe, leading to lower-quality results.
However, critics argue that Google chose to remove these features rather than show rivals fairly, which is a requirement of EU law. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) bars gatekeepers from favoring their own services in ranking, known as self-preferencing.
The Commission fined Google 890 million euros on July 23, 2026, with 460 million euros for self-preferencing in Search. Fox acknowledged that competitors are also degrading their products to comply with the law, saying 'Europeans deserve the best.'