UK may force Google to rank businesses more fairly

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is evaluating new measures that could require Google to rank businesses more fairly in its search results.

This may be the first use of the CMA’s expanded powers to regulate major tech firms.

The regulator is considering giving Google a “strategic market status” (SMS), which would allow it to enforce changes that promote competition and innovation.

If approved in October, the SMS designation could require Google to improve transparency for publishers, ease access to rival search services, and support data portability for competitors.

CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said that while Google has delivered major benefits, there’s room to make the market more competitive.

Google handles over 90% of search queries in the UK and serves more than 200,000 businesses with its search ads.

Google pushed back, calling the proposed measures broad and unfocused.

🔗 Source: Reuters

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ The UK’s regulatory approach represents a strategic post-Brexit divergence

The UK’s approach to regulating Google reflects a deliberate shift away from the EU’s regulatory model following Brexit.

While the EU’s Digital Markets Act uses rigid quantitative thresholds to automatically designate “gatekeepers,” the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act employs a more discretionary approach with company-specific remedies1.

This divergence allows the CMA to engage with firms before designation and develop tailored codes of conduct rather than imposing uniform obligations across all designated companies2.

Despite facing over €8 billion in EU fines since 2017, Google has maintained its dominant position with over 90% market share in UK search3 4, suggesting that previous approaches haven’t effectively addressed market concentration issues.

The UK’s more flexible framework reflects its broader post-Brexit strategy of balancing stronger regulatory oversight with a business environment that still encourages innovation and investment.

This regulatory approach could position the UK as a leader in effective digital market regulation if its tailored methods prove more successful than the EU’s blanket rules.