Google fights monopoly inquiry with attack on UK ‘roadblock to growth'
Google has attacked Britain's competition watchdog after it unveiled a sweeping crackdown on the tech giant's search engine.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Tuesday concluded that Google's search division was too dominant, labelling it as having 'strategic market status'.
It prompted a swift response from the Silicon Valley giant, which warned that 'punitive regulations' could delay the launch of its latest innovations in Britain and said the CMA's approach risked becoming a 'roadblock to growth in the UK'.
The CMA proposed a series of measures aimed at loosening Google's hold over the internet. These included providing extra choice for users between search products and clear attribution for publishers when their content is used to generate answers using artificial intelligence (AI).
It also said it would consider whether news publishers should be paid for how their content is used by Google, although it delayed this decision to next year.
Oliver Bethell, the senior director of competition at Google, said: 'The UK has historically benefitted from early access to our latest innovations, but punitive regulations could change that.
'Proportionate, evidence-based regulation will be essential to preventing the CMA's roadmap from becoming a roadblock to growth in the UK.'
A source close to the investigation suggested that the CMA was not in 'lockstep' with the Government and its growth agenda.
The CMA's crackdown on 'big tech' has clashed with Labour's push to cut red tape and make Britain a more attractive place to invest. In January, Marcus Bokkerink, the CMA's chairman, was forced out by ministers over concerns the regulator was not aligned with Labour's efforts to boost growth.
In a speech in December, Sir Keir Starmer took aim at 'the regulators, blockers and bureaucrats' whom he said were hurting the UK economy.
On Tuesday, the CMA said its planned measures would 'help unlock broader growth, investment and innovation in the UK tech sector and wider economy'.
It will make its final decision on its designation of Google in October.
Google search accounts for more than 90pc of all queries in the UK, far eclipsing rivals like Microsoft's Bing and new services such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. The average Briton makes between five and 10 Google searches per day.
For years, news groups, rival technology companies, online retailers and travel providers have warned that Google's dominance of the internet has distorted markets and threatened their businesses – prompting competition scrutiny around the world.
The CMA's findings are its first under new powers brought in this year, providing it with wide-ranging authority to demand tech giants change how their products work, hit them with fines, or even break them up.
The watchdog said it would include Google's AI search tools, such as AI Overviews, within its crackdown, although not its standalone AI app, called Gemini. Publishers have warned that Google's AI Overviews is diverting traffic from their websites. The CMA said it could force Google to show rival search engine products and AI tools on phones or within its Chrome web browser.
Sarah Cardell, the chief executive of the CMA, said: 'Google search has delivered tremendous benefits – but our investigation so far suggests there are ways to make these markets more open, competitive and innovative.'
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