Officials say some content created with advertisers is in effect not visible, which could mean unfair loss of revenue
The EU has launched an investigation into Google Search over concerns the US tech company has been “demoting” commercial content from news media sites.
The bloc’s executive arm announced the move after monitoring found certain content created with advertisers and sponsors was being given such a low priority by Google that it was in effect no longer visible in search results.
European Commission officials said this potentially unfair “loss of visibility and of revenue” to media owners could be a result of an anti-spam policy Google operates.
Under the rules of the Digital Market Act (DMA), which governs competition in the tech sectors, Google must apply “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions of access to publishers websites on Google Search”.
