Britain will use new regulatory powers to investigate Google’s (GOOGL.O) search services to see how they impact consumers and businesses, including advertisers and rivals, following U.S. calls to break up the tech giant.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which gained a wider remit over big tech this month, said search was vital for economic growth and it was critical that competition was working.
“Millions of people and businesses rely on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90% of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there,” CMA boss Sarah Cardell said.
“It’s our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal.”
UK regulators including the CMA have been told by the Labour government to prioritise measures that boost economic growth.
Responding to the probe, Google’s competition director Oliver Bethell highlighted in a blog post the CMA’s comment that search was vital for growth.
Google will engage with the CMA, and lay out how its services benefit consumers and businesses as well as the “trade-offs inherent in any new regulations”, he said.
“Digital services like Search will power new economic development in the UK,” Bethell said. “We welcome the recognition of … the need to align regulatory decisions with the government’s growth mission.”
Urging a pro-innovation, evidence-based regime, Bethell added that “overly prescriptive digital competition rules would end up stifling choice and opportunity for consumers and businesses”.
By Reuters
