On Wednesday, over 20 price comparison websites from across Europe voiced their discontent regarding Google’s latest proposals for its search results. They argue that the adjustments remain inadequate in meeting the requirements set by EU technology regulations, prompting them to call for regulatory action against the tech giant.
Google has been in discussions with various stakeholders, including comparison sites, hotels, airlines, restaurants, and retailers, for more than a year regarding compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This legislation aims to prevent the company from giving preferential treatment to its own products and services within its platform.
In a recent update, Google unveiled its latest strategy, which features expanded and uniformly formatted display units designed to help users easily choose between comparison sites and supplier websites.
Additionally, the tech company is testing the return of its earlier “ten blue links” search format in Germany, Belgium, and Estonia, as a potential alternative if it fails to reach an agreement with competitors.
Notable price comparison websites involved in this critique include Germany’s Idealo and billiger.de, France’s Le Guide, PriceRunner, Kelkoo, and the Dutch site kieskeurig.nl, along with Italy’s trovaprezzi.it. The websites assert that Google has disregarded their feedback throughout the process.
In an open letter, they stated, “Google has simply, repeatedly, ignored this feedback, and instead continued to iterate on the same non-compliant solution for months.”
They further emphasized, “If Google has not taken feedback into account after more than 100 events, it can only mean one thing: Google is wilfully not complying with the DMA.”
When approached for a comment, Google referred to a blog post from November 26, highlighting the multiple modifications it has made over the past year in pursuit of compliance with the DMA.
The coalition of websites is urging the European Commission to take decisive action against Google. They declared, “The Commission has opened proceedings against Google for non-compliance. It must proceed with such proceedings, issue preliminary findings, and impose fines on Google, including periodic penalty payments, to force Google to finally listen and comply.”
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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