Google’s Deceptive DMA (non-)Compliance Tactics
Two weeks ago, Google announced that it was running a test of a new DMA “compliance” solution, going back to the “ten blue links”, only for hotel related queries and only on three markets (Belgium, Germany, Estonia).
According to Google, such changes were due to the demand of “a few sites” calling for “a complete ban on anything that’s more sophisticated than a simple blue link to a website”. The objective of such a test was to “understand how such changes would impact both the user experience and traffic to websites”.
Unsurprisingly, today, Google is announcing that people are dissatisfied with the changes and that it led to a diminution of traffic going to hotel websites.
This outcome was predictable from the outset, as Google designed the “solution” for this purpose. It was designed to generate conflict and political backlash. It was designed to foster conflict between travel vertical search services (such as eu travel tech members) and travel services suppliers.
Luckily, most observers have not been fooled by this new Google trick. It has been broadly casted, from all sides, as an aggressive lobbying tactic aimed at polarizing the debate. The Digital Markets Act is not mandating Google to go back to the 10 blue links and comparisons sites have not asked Google to do so.
On the opposite, dozens of comparison sites and their representative associations have been engaged for the last two years in a constructive dialogue with the European Commission and Google on DMA implementation. A number of creative ways for Google to serve customers better while being compliant with the Digital Markets Act have been discussed. There are actually a million ways to design search results that benefit all stakeholders – suppliers, aggregators and users alike- without undermining the DMA’s principles.
In the end, Google holds both all power and all responsibility in this process. It completely controls the search results page and has the opportunity to endlessly test creative compliance solutions; at the same time it has a legal obligation to comply with the DMA and thus stop favoring its own vertical services unfairly. With its latest test, Google has once more failed to use its power to live up to its responsibility.
How can we move forward and get Google to finally engage in this process in good faith, and to implement innovative, DMA-compliant and fair solutions? It is urgent now for the European Commission to release its preliminary findings and take decisive action in its non-compliance investigation. It will send a clear signal to Google that compliance with EU law is not negotiable and cannot be avoided through deceptive practices. Clear and strong enforcement of the DMA is crucial to foster fair and innovative digital markets.
