BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥� European Union regulators said Thursday they鈥檙e investigating whether Google is unfairly demoting some content from media publishers in search results under a policy the company says is aimed at combating scammers.
Brussels moved forward despite the risk of incurring the wrath of President Donald Trump, who has and vowed to retaliate if American tech companies are penalized.
The investigation could result in the latest multibillion-euro fine for the U.S. digital giant from the European Commission, which is the bloc鈥檚 highest antitrust enforcer.
鈥淲e are concerned that Google鈥檚 policies do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner in its search results,鈥� said Teresa Ribera, an executive vice-president at the Commission.
鈥淲e will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry, and to ensure Google complies with the Digital Markets Act,鈥� Ribera added, referring to the bloc鈥檚 sweeping rulebook designed to stop tech companies from monopolizing digital markets.
The commission, the EU鈥檚 executive branch, said it had received indications that Google is demoting certain search results according to its site reputation abuse policy.
But Google said the policy protects European users from 鈥渄eceptive, low quality content and scams鈥� and 鈥渟hady tactics鈥� used to promote them so that they show up in search results.
Pandu Nayak, chief scientist at Google Search, said in a blog post that the company said it’s trying to prevent spammers from abusing search results by buying paid-for content on a publisher鈥檚 website to trick readers into clicking on low-quality content.
Nayak said the investigation was misguided and without merit.
鈥淯nfortunately, the investigation announced today into our anti-spam efforts is entirely misguided and risks harming millions of European users,鈥� Google Search鈥檚 chief scientist, Pandu Nayak, said in a blog post.
鈥淚f we allowed this behavior 鈥� letting sites use sketchy tactics to boost their ranking, instead of investing in creating high-quality content 鈥� it would enable bad actors to displace sites that don鈥檛 use those spammy tactics, and it would degrade Search for everyone,鈥� Nayak said.
But the Commission said the policy hurts 鈥渁 common and legitimate way for publishers to monetize their websites and content鈥� and could violate the DMA鈥檚 rules requiring digital gatekeepers like Google to treat other businesses fairly.
The EU drew outrage from Trump in September, when ($3.5 billion) for breaching the 27-nation bloc鈥檚 competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services. It was the fourth time Brussels has sanctioned Google with a multibillion-euro fine in an antitrust case, in a wider battle with between the EU and Big Tech that dates back to .
The EU鈥檚 new investigation must conclude within 12 months. It could fine Google parent Alphabet 10% or more of annual global revenue. The Commission said it could even dismantle and sell off parts of its business.
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