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Google reportedly proposed EU search changes to address concerns about news rankings, publisher revenue, and potential fines under the Digital Markets Act.
Google’s fight against “parasite SEO” may now be creating a bigger problem in Europe.
The tech giant has reportedly moved to appease European Union lawmakers by proposing changes to how it presents news results across search. It is reportedly looking to resolve the concerns before the EU fines the search giant, which has already incurred more than $11 billion in fines from the bloc.
The EU probe is investigating whether Google demotes news results from websites that include third-party commercial content, such as sponsored editorials, vouchers, or other partner material. In Google’s eyes, this is “parasite SEO” that uses a site’s reputation to push commercial content into the news cycle, while news publishers say it is a legitimate revenue stream being damaged by Google’s overwhelming influence on digital news coverage.
The proposal to EU lawmakers would feature amendments to this parasite SEO program, according to Bloomberg.
This may be enough to satisfy the EU probe and avert the high fines that Google has faced in previous cases. Under the Digital Markets Act, the EU can fine a company up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue, which for Google could be as much as $40 billion.
This is one of several cases brought forward by the EU against Google. The search giant has also been investigated for not allowing external payments on Android, favoring its own in-house services, and harvesting data from YouTube and its other apps without proper compensation.
The EU has held off on fining Google and others immediately due to threats of retaliatory tariffs from US President Donald Trump, but the search giant still appears keen to resolve these probes before a decision on the fine is made.
The EU has been focused on tackling anti-competitive abuses from the largest tech firms.
Under the Digital Markets Act, it can designate these large companies as “gatekeepers”, placing them under a stricter set of rules. WhatsApp Channels was recently designated as a “Very Large Online Platform”, and ChatGPT looks to be the next app to receive this designation.
Google is not the only large platform under the EU’s watchful eye. Meta and TikTok were recently accused of breaching digital rules by failing to provide researchers with access to platform data. The EU has also considered adding Amazon Web Services and Microsoft to its gatekeeper designation, given their dominance in the cloud services market.
The EU AI Act is set to be the next battleground between the EU and US tech companies. Apple, Meta, Google, and others have called for a delay in the act’s implementation, a request the European Commission swiftly denied. It will have many of the same stipulations as the EU’s other digital acts for AI companies, focusing on transparency, governance, and sovereignty.
For more on Google’s broader AI workplace push, check out TechRepublic’s coverage of the five new Google Workspace AI upgrades aimed at automating meetings, spreadsheets, and daily workflows.
David Curry is a tech journalist and analyst with over a decade of experience writing for established outlets. He holds a master’s degree in International Journalism from the University of Leeds and has covered the technology sector since the early 2010s. His work focuses on B2B technology, data journalism, mobile apps and app markets, artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and emerging technologies. He earned a BA from the University of Lincoln and an MA from the University of Leeds.
