Google faces intensified scrutiny from the UK's antitrust agency, becoming the first company in the UK to be designated as having a "strategic market position."
Google has become the first company in the UK to be recognized as having a "strategic market position," facing stricter antitrust scrutiny. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) pointed out that Google's dominance in the search and advertising sectors affects market fairness, with over 90% of search activities occurring on its platform. The CMA expressed concerns about the fairness of Google's search results and advertising costs. Google responded by warning that potential regulatory measures could stifle innovation and growth
According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Google (GOOGL.US), a subsidiary of Alphabet, has become the first company in the UK to be designated with "strategic market status." This designation subjects its online search and advertising business to stricter scrutiny from UK antitrust authorities.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that Google's entrenched market dominance is sufficient to support this designation, which aims to ensure fair competition in digital markets. The agency also expressed concerns about the fairness of Google's search results, high advertising costs, and AI-generated search responses.
"We found that Google occupies a strategic position in the search and search advertising space—over 90% of search activity in the UK occurs on its platform," said Will Hayter, Executive Director of Digital Markets at the CMA, in a statement on Friday.
The CMA noted that this investigation does not cover Google's Gemini AI assistant, but "given the uncertainty in market developments, this situation will continue to be assessed."
The UK's move to constrain Google follows multiple rounds of penalties initiated by the European Union against the company. Last month, the EU announced a fine of nearly €3 billion (approximately $3.5 billion) against Google and ordered the search giant to stop favoring its own advertising technology services. U.S. President Donald Trump called the EU's actions "extremely unfair" and threatened to impose tariffs.
Oliver Bethell, Google's Senior Director of Competition Affairs, responded to the CMA's designation by stating that the UK must avoid "costly restrictive measures" and "overly burdensome regulations." "Many of the proposed interventions in this process could stifle innovation and growth in the UK, and even delay product launches," Bethell said.
The CMA's designation is based on stricter rules that came into effect earlier this year in the UK, aimed at regulating competition in digital markets.
This designation does not imply that Google has engaged in anti-competitive behavior, but it opens the door for subsequent measures (such as enforcement actions and penalties) that will target the way Google operates its search services in the UK. The CMA stated that it will launch consultations later this year on possible intervention measures.
The agency previously revealed that the investigation focused on areas including allowing users to choose other search service providers and ensuring fairness in website rankings in search results.
The CMA also plans to initiate a new round of investigations in 2026 to address further concerns, such as Google's bargaining position with content publishers and issues of control over search advertising businesses
