You can access the CMA press release from here.
The UK’s competition regulator has ordered Google to make its search rankings more transparent and fair, while also requiring the company to let users share their search data with authorised third-party services.
What Google must do: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Google must explain its ranking practices more clearly, give businesses advance notice of major changes to its search systems, and create a formal process for handling ranking-related complaints. The rules will apply to organic search results, including AI-generated features such as AI Overviews, but not to paid advertisements.
Google must also allow users to transfer their search data to approved third parties through a secure process. The CMA said this could help other companies build services such as personalised recommendations, shopping offers, discounts and rewards.
Why the CMA is acting: The regulator said it acted after businesses raised concerns that changes to Google’s search systems often lacked transparency and could affect traffic and revenue without sufficient warning. According to the CMA, this uncertainty discouraged some businesses from investing and growing.
The CMA designated Google with Strategic Market Status (SMS), a classification reserved for companies with substantial and entrenched market power in key digital services. The company handles more than 90% of search queries in the UK, according to the regulator.
What the CMA said: Announcing the measures, CMA Executive Director for Digital Markets Will Hayter said: “Step by step, we’re ensuring that Google’s search services work better for businesses and consumers across the UK.”
He added: “Search is a vital gateway for businesses in the UK to reach customers, and clearer, predictable and more transparent ranking systems could give them greater scope to expand and invest.”
Google’s response: Google said it would work with the regulator, while maintaining that its ranking systems are already fair. A company spokesperson said the systems are “fair, transparent and show the most relevant, highest quality results”.
Earlier AI search measures: The latest action follows measures introduced earlier this month that gave publishers more control over whether their content can be used to power Google’s AI search features. However, the UK’s Professional Publishers Association argued that the six-month implementation period for the ranking rules gives Google too much time while AI-driven search continues to reshape how audiences find content online.
Google has been given six months to implement the ranking-related requirements and three months to comply with the data portability rules. The CMA said it will monitor compliance and could impose further measures if necessary.
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