EU launches antitrust investigation into Google’s anti-spam rules

Google is facing new scrutiny in the European Union, this time over its anti-search spam policies. The development comes after complaints from a coalition of media companies and publishers. Now the European Commission has launched an antitrust investigation into Google’s anti-spam policy for “site reputation abuse,” which aims to clean up search results.

The policy in question targets a practice often referred to as “parasitic SEO.” The term refers to when third parties publish content on a well-ranked host site to abuse the host’s high authority. This allows them to quickly increase their own visibility in search results. Google says its measures to tackle ‘parasitic SEO’ are essential to maintain search quality and ensure that sites that earn rankings do so ‘based on their own content’.

Google is facing a new EU investigation: publishers claim its anti-spam policies destroy revenue

However, many publishers view the policy as a threat to their business model. They claim that when their websites host content from commercial partners (a common and legitimate way to generate revenue), Google’s spam policy can unfairly demote their news and media content in search results.

Teresa Ribera, head of the European competition authorities concerns expressed. She stated that Google’s rules may not treat news publishers in a “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner.” The research tries to ensure that publishers do not miss out on important revenue. This is especially important in the current difficult financial climate facing the media industry.

The Digital Markets Act hangs over the matter

This research carries significant weight as it falls under the purview of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA is a sweeping piece of EU legislation designed to rein in the market power of large tech platforms. If the European Commission finds that Google is in violation of the DMA, the company could face huge fines – up to 10% of its annual global turnover.

Google has strongly opposed the investigation. Pandu Nayak, chief scientist of Google Search, called the move “misguided” and argued that the research risks deteriorating the quality of search results for millions of European users. He also pointed out that a German court had previously rejected a similar claim, ruling that Google’s policy was valid and reasonable.