EU probes Google under DMA over news publisher demotions

The European Commission opened a Digital Markets Act investigation into Google, examining whether its search ranking policy demotes news and other publishers when pages include content from commercial partners.

The probe centers on Google’s “site reputation abuse” policy, introduced in March 2024 to curb “parasite SEO,” where third parties publish on established domains to benefit from their ranking signals. 

Regulators will assess whether the policy is applied in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory way to news outlets and whether any demotions are proportionate to anti-spam goals. If the Commission finds a breach of the DMA, penalties can reach up to 10% of worldwide turnover.

Officials indicated that initial monitoring shows lower visibility for publishers in Google Search when sites carry partner-produced material. The concern is that the policy could limit a common way publishers monetize their pages.

A complaint filed in April by German media company ActMeraki argues that Google’s spam rules penalize legitimate publishers, cutting traffic and advertising revenue. Industry groups including the European Publishers Council, the European Newspaper Publishers Association and the European Magazine Media Association have raised similar concerns.

Google rejects the concerns and defends its ranking rules as protecting search quality. In a blog post, Pandu Nayak, chief scientist at Google Search, stated that the investigation into Google’s anti-spam efforts is misguided and could harm millions of European users. He also pointed out that a German court had dismissed a similar claim and found the policy valid, reasonable, and consistently applied.

The inquiry will run under DMA procedures. Officials plan to review how the policy is implemented across different types of publisher partnerships and pages. The Commission aims to conclude the investigation within 12 months.

Previously, WhatsApp crossed the 45-million-user threshold in the EU and moved toward designation as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act, with the Commission increasingly focusing on its public Channels feature.