Google warned that ‘punitive regulations’ could prevent UK consumers from having early access to its latest innovations.
The UK’s competition regulator said it could force Google to change how it ranks search results.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is proposing to designate Alphabet-owned Google with “strategic market status,” it said on June 24.
In January 2025, new responsibilities for the CMA came into force under the wide-reaching Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act, giving the UK’s competition watchdog the power to intervene in search services.
The designation could compel Google to enhance transparency for publishers (including in artificial intelligence-generated responses), ensure “non-discriminatory ranking” of search results, and simplify access to rival search services.
The CMA has said it will make a final decision on the “strategic market status” designation in October.
CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said the actions were “targeted and proportionate.”
“[They will] give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control over how they interact with Google’s search services, as well as unlocking greater opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector and broader economy,” she said.
The regulator said Google searches account for more than 90 percent of all general search queries in the UK and that more than 200,000 businesses in the UK rely on Google advertising to reach their customers.
In a statement on June 24, Google said, “[The CMA has] reiterated that ‘strategic market status’ does not imply that anti-competitive behaviour has taken place, yet this announcement presents clear challenges to critical areas of our business in the UK.”
“We’re concerned that the scope of the CMA’s considerations remains broad and unfocused, with a range of interventions being considered before any evidence has been provided,” the company said.
“The UK has historically benefited from early access to our latest innovations, but punitive regulations could change that.”
Under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act, authorities are able to impose substantial fines for noncompliance.
The UK has implemented a range of far-reaching internet laws.
Hailed by the UK government as the world’s first online safety law, the Online Safety Act (OSA) became law in October 2023, but the duties related to the regulation of so-called illegal content took effect in March 2025.
By Owen Evans
