Key Points
- Google offers to change news display rules to avoid EU antitrust penalties
- Potential fines could reach 10 per cent of Alphabet’s global annual revenue
- Settlement would be an early test of the Digital Markets Act enforcement
Google has offered to change how it displays news results on its search engine in a bid to avoid fresh European Union antitrust penalties, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.
The proposals include amendments to the company’s anti-spam policies and are aimed at resolving an EU investigation opened in 2025 into Google’s site reputation abuse policy, the report said.
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If the European Commission accepts the offer, the settlement could spare Google a formal order under the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) — a rulebook that governs how dominant technology platforms must behave — and the prospect of fines of up to 10 per cent of its global annual revenue.
What Google is offering to change
At the centre of the dispute is Google’s site reputation abuse policy, under which the company demotes pages on publishers’ websites that carry unrelated promotional content placed by third-party commercial partners.
The practice being targeted is often called “parasite SEO” in the industry. It involves established news domains renting out subdomains or sections to affiliate marketers and coupon sites, allowing these commercial partners to ride the host publisher’s domain authority to rank higher in Google’s search results.
Google argues the demotions protect users from deceptive results. In a statement quoted by Bloomberg, the company said it was engaging constructively with the European Commission.
“Our priority is to keep search results helpful and useful for users and protect them from deceptive practices like parasite SEO spam that undermine the web,” Google said.
European publishers and some affected commercial partners have countered that the policy disproportionately hurts legitimate revenue lines and gives Google unilateral power over which content reaches readers.
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Billions at stake across multiple EU cases
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has already been hit with about €9.5 billion — roughly ₹1.05 lakh crore — in EU competition fines across earlier cases. Brussels has signalled little appetite for leniency as it puts the DMA through its first contested enforcement cycle since the law came into force in 2024.
The news search case is one of several DMA-linked investigations the US-headquartered search giant is contesting in Brussels. The Commission is separately probing whether Google unfairly favours its own services such as flights, hotels and shopping in general search results.
A third investigation examines whether its Play Store rules unlawfully prevent app developers from steering users to alternative payment options.
Each case carries its own potential 10 per cent fine ceiling. The cumulative exposure for the company runs into tens of billions of euros if the Commission rules against it on multiple fronts.
Early test for Digital Markets Act
The DMA designates a small group of companies — including Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and ByteDance — as “gatekeepers”. These are platforms considered large enough to control access to digital markets. The law imposes obligations covering self-preferencing, interoperability and data portability.
Under the DMA, settlements involving voluntary commitments are possible but rare. Any agreement would typically be subject to market testing with affected parties before being finalised. The Commission has not publicly commented on the latest exchange.
For European publishers, the substance of any settlement will matter more than its existence. The question they are likely to press the Commission on is whether the proposed changes give them genuine recourse when their pages are demoted, or simply formalise Google’s existing discretion under a new label.
The willingness to negotiate on the news search file suggests a more pragmatic posture from the company after a string of losses, including the September 2024 ruling by the European Court of Justice that upheld a €2.4 billion (roughly ₹26,600 Crore) fine over its Shopping practices.
Your Questions, Answered
What changes has Google offered to make?
Google has offered to alter how it displays news results and amend its anti-spam policies to resolve an EU investigation into its site reputation abuse policy.
What is parasite SEO?
Parasite SEO is a practice where established news websites rent out subdomains to affiliate marketers and coupon sites, allowing them to rank higher in search results by using the host publisher’s domain authority.
What fines could Google face under the Digital Markets Act?
Google could face fines of up to 10 per cent of its global annual revenue under the DMA. The company has already paid about €9.5 billion in previous EU competition fines.
What is the Digital Markets Act?
The DMA is an EU rulebook that governs how dominant technology platforms must behave. It designates companies like Google, Apple and Meta as gatekeepers and imposes obligations on self-preferencing and interoperability.