“The decision to formally grant Google strategic market status is an important step towards improving competition in digital markets,” argues Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at the British consumer organization “Which?”. “Online search is evolving as gen AI tools become more widely used, but the CMA must continue to act to challenge Google’s harmful dominance and promote competition between gen AI search tools.”
The CMA says Google search accounts for more than 90 percent of all general search queries in the UK and that in 2024, more than 200,000 UK businesses spent a total of more than £10 billion ($13.3 billion) on Google search advertising.
“Designating Google via SMS enables us to consider proportionate, targeted interventions to ensure that general search services are open to effective competition and that consumers and businesses who use Google can have confidence that they are treated fairly,” the CMA decision report said.
In a statement shared with WIRED in response to the CMA’s decision, Google’s senior director of competition, Oliver Bethell, said many of the intervention ideas raised by the process were “stifling innovation and growth in the UK, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-driven innovation.” It continued: “Others are causing direct harm to businesses by warning they may have to raise prices for customers.”
This is not a surprising reaction, says Greg Dowell, senior competition lawyer at Macfarlanes. “I think we can expect Google and all the other big tech companies subject to these new regulations to try to defend their practices by claiming they are pro-consumer,” Dowell says. “Ultimately, it’s natural that Google and other companies in this position don’t want to be limited in their ability to develop new products.”
The novel regulations will also apply to the “News” tab and the “Top articles” carousel in the Google search engine, as well as Google Discover. The CMA says Google News, the company’s standalone news product, or its Gemini AI chatbot are not affected.
Dowell says it could take several months to implement this action plan. “The CMA can go further than the EU did in the case [Digital Markets Act]especially with regard to limitations related to Google AI services and their integration with Google Search,” he explains.
“The CMA generally has a high degree of flexibility in the interventions it can seek to impose, allowing it to continually respond to developments as they emerge. This is one of the advantages of the UK system for regulating digital markets, particularly compared to the situation in the EU, where these types of rules are set out in the regulation itself.”