The European Commission is probing Google for potentially breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA), having found indications that the company is demoting media publishers in Google search through a policy intended to reduce spam and manipulation of their search feed.
The problem comes from Google’s "site reputation abuse policy", implemented in 2024, which is meant to stop spammers uploading low-quality third-party content – such as advertising or posts – on a host website with a good search reputation.
It is a tactic aiming to artificially boost a third party's rank in Google search results.
Google will demote webpages in search that it sees as violating this policy.
But "We are concerned that Google's policies do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner in its search results," said Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for competitive transition in the press release.
Based on complaints and its own preliminary investigation, the commission believes this policy is directly impacting a legitimate monetisation method which publishers use for their websites, as they often rely on third-party content for their revenue.
An EU official said that once Google enforces this policy on a publisher's webpage, "the impact on some of these subdomains which are hosting third-party content is quite significant when it comes to demotion."
And when a domain was demoted, there was "a significant impact on their visibility and reach therefore, of course, corresponding loss of revenue for the publishers," said the official.
Google sees this new investigation as misguided in a blog post responding to the investigation inquiry.
"This surprising new investigation risks rewarding bad actors and degrading the quality of search results," wrote Pandu Nayak, vice president of search at Google
This new investigation follows a 2024 DMA investigation into Alphabet's self-preferencing tactics, as well as a 2025 fine of €2.95bn for abusing its online advertising technology.
The commission aims to conclude the investigation within 12 months and can fine Google if it is found non-compliant.
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Owen Carpenter-Zehe is a junior reporter from the US at EUobserver, covering European politics.
Owen Carpenter-Zehe is a junior reporter from the US at EUobserver, covering European politics.