Google isn’t just facing legal problems in the U.S. as the DOJ demands Chrome to be sold off: the company is now under pressure in the EU. The EU’s DMA (Digital Markets Act) — which has been the bane of multiple corporations — has forced Google to rework how its search engine will display results in the region.
This process kicked off when certain service providers raised complaints about reduced traffic due to how the company was processing searches. Around 30 percent reduction in traffic was seen by retailers, hotels, airlines and other sites. The complaints alleged that this began after recent tweaks to Google’s search algorithms.
Oliver Bethel — legal director at Google — called the proposed changes “difficult trade-offs” and said that Google was “very reluctant” to go through with the revisions. Bethel also claimed that the new changes would not benefit consumers or businesses in Europe.
Image credit — Unsplash
One of the proposed revisions includes allowing services to showcase prices and pictures. Another change will make it so that Google’s own services cannot appear as more visually appealing to users. German, Belgian and Estonian search results will also not show the locations of searched establishments on a map.
These changes have been met with criticism from multiple sides. Some allege that the changes will not address how Google shows its services in search results more favorably. Others claim that the removal of the map will make it harder for smaller businesses to catch a consumer’s attention.
Booking, Expedia and Airbnb are just some of the services demanding the EU to charge Google with DMA breaches. Google, naturally, is trying to find the best way to mediate the situation without ending up being fined by the EU or completely changing how its search engine displays results.
The EU has been a thorn in the side for many companies as of late. Apple in particular caught a lot of attention when it was forced to implement multiple aspects into its walled garden: like third party NFC payments and alternative app stores.
If Google is forced to sell off Chrome and also made to tweak its searches in the EU it’s not going to have a good year.
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Abdullah is an ardent believer in the future of VR, and can't wait to see what more it brings to the table as technology improves. He enjoys covering new software releases in the XR industry, as well as major news about hardware and companies focused on VR.
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