The UK’s competitors watchdog has confirmed tech large Google has been designated as having strategic market standing (SMS) underneath new digital markets laws.
In January the Competitors and Markets Authority (CMA) obtained new powers underneath the The Digital Markets, Competitors and Customers Act 2024, partially permitting it to suggest an SMS designation to firms that maintain a disproportionate stage of management in a selected market.
The CMA advisable in June that Google be designated as having SMS throughout the on-line search market, which has been dominated by the corporate for years.
The regulator confirmed on Friday that the authorized assessments have been met to grant the standing for normal search and search promoting providers.
Whereas the SMS designation doesn’t introduce any instant necessities, it permits the CMA to think about sturdy interventions to make sure competitors out there the place it sees match.
The regulator will seek the advice of this yr on attainable interventions.
“By selling competitors in digital markets like search and search promoting we will unlock alternatives for companies huge and small to assist innovation and development, driving funding throughout the UK economic system,” mentioned Will Hayter, govt director for digital markets on the CMA.
“Now we have discovered that Google maintains a strategic place within the search and search promoting sector. Having taken under consideration the suggestions obtained following our proposed choice, we have now at present designated Google’s search providers with strategic market standing.”
Notably, the designation doesn’t embody providers associated to Google’s Gemini AI assistant, although the CMA has mentioned it would hold this place underneath assessment. AI instruments which have been straight built-in into Google search, together with the just lately launched AI mode, are throughout the scope of the designation.
