Commission Opens Antitrust Investigation into Google’s Spam Policy

1. source:-Reuters The European Commission is looking into Google's spam policy because publishers say it has hurt their business. The investigation could lead to Alphabet's Google getting hit with another big fine from EU regulators. More than a year after Google put stricter rules in place to stop businesses from changing its search algorithm to raise the rankings of other sites, the investigation is now taking place. The European Commission says that its monitoring shows that Google is lowering the rankings of news media and other publishers' websites and content in search results when those sites have content from business partners. The Commission said that this policy seems to directly affect a common and legal way for publishers to make money from their websites and content. Teresa Ribera, the head of the EU's antitrust department, said, "We are worried that Google's policies don't let news publishers be treated fairly, reasonably, and without bias in its search results." The investigation started after German media company ActMeraki filed a complaint in April saying that Google's spam policy hurts websites. The European Publishers Council,

2. the European Newspaper Publishers Association, and the European Magazine Media Association have all raised similar concerns. Now, the European Commission will look into whether Google's rules are hurting publishers' income and whether more rules are needed. Also Read Business Minds Media For Further Information