n November 26, Google came up with a few changes that might interact with what Europeans are used to seeing on their search results, reported Reuters.
Some of Google's smaller rivals filed complaints regarding their site results and traffic, which they believed to be caused by Alphabet, Google’s parent company.
Even more so, those regulations are not the only measures that the European Union has come up with, as EU antitrust regulators are considering charging the tech giant under new tech rules are insured.
The Digital Markets Act prohibits big tech giants such as Google, from favoring their own products and services. This Act was installed last year and aimed to diminish the power and monopoly that big companies have.
Since the Act was made public, Google has tried to address the problem and the demands that came from price-comparison sites, airlines, hotels, and small retailers, reported Reuters. Even more so, airlines and hotels have complained about a direct fall of about 30% in their numbers due to the changes that Google has been making.
Oliver Bethell, Google’s legal director stated in a blog post on Tuesday about the matter, saying “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,”.
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Some of the changes that he is talking about are expanded and equally formatted units that give users the ability to choose between comparison sites and supplier websites. Another change foresees the apparition of a new format which gives rivals the ability to show prices and pictures on their websites as well as comparison sites.
Oliver Bethell also added, “We think the latest proposal is the right way to balance the difficult trade-offs that the DMA involves,”.
Even more so, for search results when it comes to Germany, Belgium, and Estonia, Google plans to remove the map that was used to show the location of hotels and the results under the map.
“We're very reluctant to take this step, as removing helpful features does not benefit consumers or businesses in Europe,”.
It is also worth mentioning that Google has been in the European Commission crosshairs since March. DMA violations cost them as much as 10% of their annual revenue.
By
George King
•
November 26, 2024 4:10 PM
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