CMA to investigate Google’s search services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 10h00 TUESDAY 14 JANUARY 2025

CMA to investigate Google's search services

Investigation to determine if Google has strategic market status in search and search advertising activities and whether these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses in the UK.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today launched its first strategic market status (SMS) designation investigation under the new digital markets competition regime which came into force on 1 January 2025. The investigation will assess Google's position in search and search advertising services and how this impacts consumers and businesses including advertisers, news publishers, and rival search engines.

Google's innovative services have generated significant benefits in the UK. Its search services are a gateway through which millions of people and businesses access and navigate the internet. In the UK, Google accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries, and more than 200,000 UK advertisers use Google's search advertising. Search is vital for economic growth. It facilitates businesses connecting with each other, with investors, and with their customers. And it generates a wealth of data that can be used to develop new AI products and services to foster innovation.

Given the importance of search as a key digital service for people, businesses and the economy, it is critical that competition works well. Effective competition ensures people benefit from greater choice, new and innovative services, and have control over their data. Search services are also important as a route to access the news. Effective competition could help ensure that people can access a wide range of content and that publishers are treated fairly for the use of their content.

For businesses, effective competition could keep down the costs of search advertising, equivalent to nearly £500 per household per year, in turn lowering prices across the economy. An effective, competitive market could also allow businesses to innovate in a way which creates alternatives to traditional search services, including by, for example, ensuring that new AI start-ups can compete with Google and other existing players on an equal footing.

Under the digital markets competition regime, the CMA may designate firms with SMS in relation to a particular digital activity. Once designated, the CMA can impose conduct requirements or propose pro-competition interventions to achieve positive outcomes for UK consumers and businesses.   

The CMA's investigation will assess whether Google has SMS in the UK search and search advertising sectors and, in parallel, consider whether conduct requirements should be imposed in the event of a final designation decision.

The issues that will form part of the CMA's investigation include:

-     Weak competition and barriers to entry and innovation in search. The CMA will assess how competition is working and if Google is using its position to prevent innovation by others. This includes whether barriers to entry are preventing other competitors from entering the market, in particular whether Google is able to shape the development of new AI services and interfaces, including 'answer engines', in ways which limit the competitive constraint they impose on Google Search.

-     Possible leveraging of market power and ensuring open markets. This will include investigating whether Google is using its position in the market to self-preference its own services, for example specialised search services covering shopping and travel.

-     Potential exploitative conduct. This will include investigating the collection and use of large quantities of consumer data without informed consent, and the use of publisher content without fair terms and conditions (including payment terms).

Potential conduct requirements could include, for example, requirements on Google to make the data it collects available to other businesses or giving publishers more control over how their data is used including in Google's AI services.

The CMA will take a proportionate and transparent approach to this investigation which must be completed within 9 months. It will now focus on engaging a wide range of stakeholders - including advertising firms, news publishers and user groups - as well as gathering evidence from Google before reaching a decision by October 2025.

Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, said:

"Millions of people and businesses across the UK rely on Google's search and advertising services - with 90 per cent of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there. That's why it's so important to ensure these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses and that there is a level playing field, especially as AI has the potential to transform search services.

"It's our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal - for example in how their data is collected and stored. And for businesses, whether you are a rival search engine, an advertiser or a news organisation, we want to ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed.

More information can be found on the CMA's search services investigation case page. More information on the digital markets competition regime can be found via the CMA's explainer page.

-ENDS-

NOTES TO EDITORS

1.   Search advertising is where an advertiser pays for its advert to appear next to the results from a user's search on an internet search engine. The investigation relates to Google's general search and search advertising activities. A description of these activities and the main Google products included is set out in the investigation notice.

2.   The statutory deadline for this investigation is Monday 13 October 2025.

3.   Anyone with an interest in the CMA's Google Search investigation is invited to comment until Monday 3 February.

4.   Under the digital markets competition regime, the CMA may designate firms with SMS in relation to a particular digital activity. If designated, the CMA could impose conduct requirements or introduce pro-competition interventions to achieve positive outcomes for UK consumers and businesses. For any business to be able to be designated with strategic market status it must be found to have:

I.    Substantial and entrenched market power in a digital activity linked to the United Kingdom.

II.   A position of strategic significance.

III.  Global turnover of more than £25 billion or UK turnover of more than £1 billion.

5.   The CMA set out on 7 January that it expects to launch SMS designation investigations in relation to two areas of digital activity during January. This is the first of those investigations.  

6.   The regime forms part of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act which received Royal Assent in May 2024.

7.   Today's announcement comes at a time when other authorities around the world, including in the US, Europe and Australia are also taking a close look at Google's search activities. The CMA is in regular contact with these other authorities.

8.   For media enquiries, contact the CMA press office on 020 3738 6460 or press@cma.gov.uk