Google Faces EU Antitrust Investigation Over Spam Policy That Publishers Say Hurts Revenue

The European Union has opened an antitrust investigation into Google, accusing the U.S. tech giant of potentially violating fair competition rules through its spam policy, which news publishers claim has damaged their online visibility and revenues.

Google, owned by Alphabet (GOOGL.O), introduced the policy in March last year to curb abuse of its search algorithms by companies attempting to manipulate rankings. The company’s “site reputation abuse policy” targets what’s known as parasitic SEO — when third-party content is hosted on reputable sites to unfairly boost search results.

However, the European Commission said its oversight indicates that Google’s enforcement of the policy may be demoting legitimate media and publisher websites in search results when they include content from commercial partners.

The Commission noted that this could directly affect publishers’ ability to monetize their websites, calling into question whether Google’s actions are consistent with fair competition principles.

“We’re concerned that Google’s policies may prevent news publishers from being treated in a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory way in search results,” said EU competition chief Teresa Ribera. “Our investigation will ensure that publishers do not lose critical revenue in these challenging times and that Google complies with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).”

Google Rejects EU’s Claims as “Misleading”

In response, Google pushed back against the allegations, warning that the EU’s action could harm search quality for millions of European users.

“The investigation into our anti-spam efforts is misleading and risks harming millions of European users,” said Pandu Nayak, Google Search’s chief scientist, in a blog post.

He added that a German court has already dismissed a similar complaint, finding that Google’s anti-spam measures were legitimate, fair, and consistently applied. “Our spam policy ensures all sites compete on the basis of their own content rather than manipulative tactics,” Nayak said.

The case originated from a complaint by German media company Actmeraki in April, alleging that Google’s policy unfairly penalized publisher websites. Several major media associations — including the European Publishers Council, European Newspaper Publishers Association, and European Magazine Media Association — have since filed similar grievances.

The EU’s probe falls under the Digital Markets Act, which aims to curb the power of Big Tech and could impose fines of up to 10% of global annual revenue for violations.