CMA launches probe into Google search dominance under new regime
Google has been placed under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess whether its search and advertising services deliver fair results within the UK.
In a statement today, the watchdog announced the launch of its first “strategic market status designation investigation” under a new Strategic Market Status (SMS) regime, which was rolled out on 1 January this year.
The investigation will assess how Google’s services impact consumers and businesses in the UK, including publishers, search engine competitors and advertisers.
Given the dominant position of Google’s search services in the UK, which account for over 90 per cent of the nation’s search enquiries, the CMA said ensuring its services are delivering for businesses and consumers was critical.
“Millions of people and businesses across the UK rely on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90 per cent of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there,” said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA.
“That’s why it’s so important to ensure these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses and that there is a level playing field, especially as AI has the potential to transform search services.”
The probe will look to ensure that people benefit from a variety of services and complete control over their own data, as well as prioritising innovative services and eliminating biased content, the CMA said.
For UK businesses, the investigation will aim to keep search advertising costs down, lower prices and allow new innovations and startups to compete with the tech giant.
The CMA said it would look to wrap up the investigation in around nine months.
“It’s our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal – for example in how their data is collected and stored,” Cardell added.
“And for businesses, whether you are a rival search engine, an advertiser or a news organisation, we want to ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed.”
The CMA investigation comes amid a broader crackdown on big tech dominance, with the US courts ruling that Google illegally maintained its monopoly on internet search in 2024.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) and 17 states accused its parent company, Alphabet, of monopolising digital ad technology and called for a breakup of the tech behemoth.
In September, the EU’s top court ruled Google must pay a €2.4bn (£2bn) for abusing its dominance of its shopping comparison services. Google said it was “disappointed” with the ruling.