Google Revamps European Search Results to Comply with EU Antitrust Rules

Google has implemented significant changes to its search results in Europe to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA). The company stated that these updates represent the largest reduction in quality of service in the search engine's 29 year history. The changes follow a 460 million euro fine issued in July for favoring Google's own services in shopping, hotels, transport, and sports results.

Under the new system, searches for travel and local services will highlight one specialized search engine at the top of the page, followed by two others with fewer details. A carousel of hotels, airlines, and restaurants will appear below them, but real time prices and availability will be removed. Google's algorithm will determine the rankings. These changes are intended to level the playing field for companies by reducing the prominence of Google's own integrated services.

Nick Fox, Google's senior vice president of knowledge and information, stated that the changes degrade the user experience for Europeans by boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses. Google reported that previous DMA compliance efforts led to a 30 percent drop in free, direct booking traffic for European businesses. The company also noted that tests with millions of European users showed high levels of dissatisfaction because users had to retype queries to find information.

Google has faced total EU antitrust penalties of 10.38 billion euros over nearly two decades. In a separate July ruling, the EU issued a 430 million euro fine regarding restrictions on app developers steering users to cheaper offers. Google stated it has updated its external offers programme to comply with these rules. U.S. President Donald Trump previously criticized the EU fines, describing them as the robbing of American companies.