By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Google has proposed more changes to its search results in Europe after some smaller rivals complained about lower traffic to their sites resulting from previous tweaks by the Alphabet unit and as EU antitrust regulators consider levying charges against the company under new EU tech rules.
Under the Digital Markets Act, Google is prohibited from favouring its products and services on its platform. The Act kicked in last year and is aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech.
The world’s most popular internet search engine has since then tried to address conflicting demands from price-comparison sites, hotels, airlines and small retailers, among others. The latter three groups said their direct booking clicks have fallen by 30% due to recent Google changes.
“We have therefore proposed more changes to our European search results to try to accommodate these requests, while still meeting the goals set by the DMA,” Google’s legal director, Oliver Bethell, said in a blog post on Tuesday.
Changes include introducing expanded and equally formatted units allowing users to choose between comparison sites and supplier websites, new formats letting rivals show prices and pictures on their websites as well as new ad units for comparison sites.
“We think the latest proposal is the right way to balance the difficult trade-offs that the DMA involves,” Bethell said.
For its search results in Germany, Belgium and Estonia, Google also plans to remove the map showing the location of hotels and the results beneath the map, similar to its old “ten blue links” format from years ago, as part of a short test to gauge users’ interest.
“We’re very reluctant to take this step, as removing helpful features does not benefit consumers or businesses in Europe,” Bethell said.
Google has been in the European Commission’s crosshairs since March. DMA violations can cost companies as much as 10% of their annual global turnover.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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