The European Union has launched an investigation into Google's website search ranking issues

On November 13th, the European Union launched an investigation into Google to determine whether it unfairly treated news media and publisher websites through its search ranking policies. The European Commission stated that ongoing monitoring revealed that Google had lowered the rankings of certain media and publisher websites in search results based on the so-called "site reputation abuse policy." Google claimed that this policy aims to address the manipulation of search rankings, but the EU is concerned that this practice could harm the normal business models of media and publishers, affecting their legitimate revenue. The investigation focuses on examining whether Google's parent company, Alphabet, violated the Digital Markets Act. If violations are confirmed, Alphabet could face fines of up to 10% of its global turnover, with the maximum fine for repeated violations reaching 20%