Rumor: European Commission preparing formal complaint against Google

The European Commission is allegedly drawing up a formal complaint against Google because of the way the US company displays its competitors’ products in search services like Google Flights and Google Hotels.

According to Bloomberg, who spoke with inside sources, Google’s lawyers met with officials from the European Commission over compliance with the rules dictated in the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The Commission argues that Google should display the products of the competition more prominently in online search services in order to comply with the DMA. One way to achieve this would be to redesign Google’s search tabs, giving users the option to navigate to alternative search platforms or direct suppliers, such as hotels and airlines.

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the European Commission would send its preliminary findings to Google before the end of October. However, they pointed out, this could be delayed because Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, recently resigned.

Once Google receives the preliminary findings, the Mountain View-based tech company will have several months to resolve the European Commission’s concerns. A final decision is expected to be ready in March 2025.

A Google spokesperson told Bloomberg the company is trying “to balance the needs of different types of websites, while still respecting users’ choice”. The European Commission declined to respond.

Brussels is currently fighting several US tech companies over DMA compliance. Earlier this month Google lost a legal fight against the European Court of Justice, which fined the tech company € 2.42 billion for favoring its own online shopping service Google Shopping.

Last week however, Google was told it didn’t have to pay a € 1.5 billion fine for abusing its dominance on the search engine market relating to Google’s AdSense for Search.

Google isn’t the only one facing DMA complaints. In June, the European Commission concluded that Apple’s App Store is violating DMA rules, because developers aren’t allowed to provide pricing information within their apps, or communicate in any other way on alternative distribution channels outside the App Store.

Just last week, the Commission launched two proceedings against Apple to make changes to its operating systems in order to comply with the DMA’s interoperability obligations.

Meta is involved in a legal battle with the European Commission as well. In July, the Commission announced it was ready to charge the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp over its ‘pay or okay’ business model.