The European Commission announced on Thursday it had launched a probe into tech giant Google to determine whether it illegally disadvantaged media and news publishers in its search results.
The EU's executive arm said the probe was opened to assess whether the U.S. tech giant applies "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory conditions" to publishers' websites on Google Search, as required under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The case specifically concerns a Google policy under which content from publishers may be demoted in search results if their websites include certain commercial content from third parties.
The inquiry will examine whether the actions restricted publishers’ ability "to conduct legitimate business, innovate and cooperate with third-party content providers," a commission statement said.
"We are concerned that Google’s policies do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner in its search results," European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera said in a statement.
"We will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry, and to ensure Google complies with the Digital Markets Act."
The commission emphasized that the opening of proceedings does not indicate a finding of wrongdoing and aims to conclude the investigation within 12 months.
