financetom
Business
financetom
/
Business
/
Google offers to tweak search results as EU antitrust fine looms
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Google offers to tweak search results as EU antitrust fine looms
Oct 14, 2025 10:11 AM

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google has offered to make further changes to its search results in its latest attempt to avoid a European Union antitrust fine, according to a document seen by Reuters.

The world's most popular internet search engine modified its July proposal following feedback and criticism from vertical search engines, which are specialised search engines with links to a specific sector such as hotels, airlines, restaurants and transport services.

Price comparison sites have also criticised its previous proposals.

Google has come under European Commission scrutiny since March for allegedly favouring its own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over competitors. It risks a fine in the coming months, other sources have told Reuters.

The EU case is under the landmark Digital Markets Act, which sets out a list of dos and don'ts to limit the power of Big Tech, create room for rivals and increase choice for users.

Google said its latest tweaks were in response to calls that search results for third-party VSSs and Google should have the same information, functionality and features.

"We will create the opportunity for each VSS to show its own box on Search. A VSS box will be populated with results from that VSS inventory," the company said in its proposal.

It added the box would have the same format and information for third-party VSSs as for Google.

The winning bid for the box would be based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria and it would not share its rivals' data with others, Google said.

Suppliers - in essence hotels, restaurants, airlines and travel services - would be placed in a box either above or below the VSS box depending on the relevance to the user's query.

Google said it was keen to find a balanced solution and bring the EU investigation to a close but warned of risks ahead.

"We remain concerned that any further changes to Search would prioritise the commercial interests of a small set of intermediaries over European businesses who want to sell directly to their customers," a Google spokesperson said.

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
Atrium Mortgage Raising $30 Mln in a Bought-Deal Placement of Convertible Debentures
Atrium Mortgage Raising $30 Mln in a Bought-Deal Placement of Convertible Debentures
Jun 12, 2025
05:08 PM EDT, 06/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Atrium Mortgage Investment ( AMIVF ) on Thursday it is raising $30 million in a bought-deal placement of convertible unsecured subordinated debentures. The company is selling an underwriting syndicate 6.00% convertible unsecured subordinated debentures with a face value of $1,000 that mature in Spet.30, 2032. The underwriters have been granted an over-allotment option...
Google agrees $36 million fine for anti-competitive deals with Australia telcos
Google agrees $36 million fine for anti-competitive deals with Australia telcos
Aug 17, 2025
SYDNEY, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Google agreed on Monday to pay a A$55 million ($35.8 million) fine in Australia after the consumer watchdog found it had hurt competition by paying the country's two largest telcos to pre-install its search application on Android phones, excluding rival search engines. The fine extends a bumpy period for the Alphabet-owned internet giant in Australia,...
NextDecade Finalizes EPC Contracts With Bechtel for Texas LNG Facility
NextDecade Finalizes EPC Contracts With Bechtel for Texas LNG Facility
Jun 12, 2025
05:08 PM EDT, 06/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- NextDecade ( NEXT ) said late Thursday its subsidiaries finalized updated and new turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction contracts with Bechtel Energy for Trains 4 and 5 at its Rio Grande LNG facility in Texas. The company refreshed pricing for the Train 4 EPC contract and signed a new EPC agreement for Train...
Dave Insider Sold Shares Worth $543,264, According to a Recent SEC Filing
Dave Insider Sold Shares Worth $543,264, According to a Recent SEC Filing
Jun 12, 2025
05:07 PM EDT, 06/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Andrea Mitchell, Director, on June 11, 2025, sold 2,361 shares in Dave ( DAVE ) for $543,264. Following the Form 4 filing with the SEC, Mitchell has control over a total of 36,509 Class A common shares of the company, with 36,509 shares held directly. SEC Filing: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1841408/000095017025085526/xslF345X05/ownership.xml ...
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved