By AFP
November 13, 2025
Image: — © AFP/File Raul ARBOLEDA
Raziye Akkoc
The EU launched a fresh investigation into Google Thursday over suspicions the US giant is pushing down news outlets in search results, despite retaliation threats from US President Donald Trump.
The European Commission said Google is demoting media publishers’ websites and content in search results when they include content from commercial partners, such as sponsored editorial pieces.
“We are concerned that Google’s policies do not allow news publishers to be treated in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner in its search results,” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said.
“We will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry,” Ribera said.
The probe under the EU’s online competition rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) comes after Trump warned this year he would slap tariffs on countries he accuses of targeting US tech companies.
The sweeping EU law seeks to rein in the world’s biggest tech firms by forcing them to open up to competition in the 27-country bloc.
Google slammed the “misguided” probe as “without merit”, defending the search platform’s policies as necessary to protect users from spam.
“This surprising new investigation risks rewarding bad actors and degrading the quality of search results,” Google Search chief scientist Pandu Nayak said in a blog post.
– Avoiding spammy search results –
The EU will probe whether Google’s anti-spam policy is fair and transparent for publishers, though it is not questioning the measure as a whole.
“This policy appears to directly impact a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetise their websites and content,” the commission said.
The EU’s fear is that Google’s bid to protect users from spam could impact publishers’ “freedom to conduct legitimate business” at a difficult time for news media, with advertising revenue down and many users preferring video content.
While Brussels believes publishers have lost revenue due to the policy, it did not have figures to detail how much, and would not comment on which media outlets.
Google said it seeks to protect users from the risk of spammers taking advantage of the good ranking of publishing outlets, in order to trick them into clicking on low-quality content.
The commission said it will seek to conclude the probe within 12 months.
– Google in EU crosshairs –
Google already faces heavy scrutiny from EU regulators.
The EU slapped Google with a massive 2.95-billion-euro fine in September, which drew an angry rebuke from Trump and more tariff threats.
Brussels also accused Google of treating its own services more favourably compared to rivals as part of a DMA probe launched in March 2024.
And at the same time it said the Google Play app store prevented developers from steering customers outside the store to access cheaper deals.
If DMA breaches are confirmed, the law gives the EU the power to impose fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s total global turnover.
This can rise to up to 20 percent for repeat offenders.
Google to pay millions to South African news outlets: watchdog
By AFP
November 13, 2025
Image: — © Copyright AFP GREG BAKER
Google will pay more than $40 million to support South African news media, many of them floundering in a digital age, the country’s competition authority said Thursday.
Tech giants, including TikTok, X and Facebook, have come under fire for anti-trust practices that the watchdog says hurt local media by limiting their ability to distribute and profit from their digital content.
In February, the Competition Commission had recommended that Google pay up to $27 million a year for five years, following a 16-month investigation that found Google searches favoured international news over local outlets.
But the California-based company ultimately agreed to a 688 million-rand ($40.4-million) funding package, the commission said Thursday as it released its final report.
Under the agreement, $4 million will go to national publishers and broadcasters over five years for content on Google News, while $2.6 million will be allocated annually to support AI innovation.
Community and small media outlets will receive $2.2 million over three years to support digital transformation.
“Google will also introduce new user tools to prioritise local news sources, provide technical assistance to improve website performance, share enhanced audience data,” the commission said, adding that YouTube had also agreed to support monetisation.
The platforms also committed to removing algorithmic bias favouring foreign outlets, it said.
Similar funding deals have been reached in countries including Taiwan, Canada, Australia and the United States in the face of mounting pressure from governments to introduce regulations requiring such arrangements.
Chinese social media platform TikTok had meanwhile agreed to provide new tools, including allowing media to insert links within videos to monetise off-platform content.
Social media platform X, owned by South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, did not reach a settlement and has been ordered to make all monetisation programmes available to local publishers and to provide training workshops.
The directive can be appealed, the commission said.
By AFP
November 13, 2025
Image: — © Copyright AFP GREG BAKER
Google will pay more than $40 million to support South African news media, many of them floundering in a digital age, the country’s competition authority said Thursday.
Tech giants, including TikTok, X and Facebook, have come under fire for anti-trust practices that the watchdog says hurt local media by limiting their ability to distribute and profit from their digital content.
In February, the Competition Commission had recommended that Google pay up to $27 million a year for five years, following a 16-month investigation that found Google searches favoured international news over local outlets.
But the California-based company ultimately agreed to a 688 million-rand ($40.4-million) funding package, the commission said Thursday as it released its final report.
Under the agreement, $4 million will go to national publishers and broadcasters over five years for content on Google News, while $2.6 million will be allocated annually to support AI innovation.
Community and small media outlets will receive $2.2 million over three years to support digital transformation.
“Google will also introduce new user tools to prioritise local news sources, provide technical assistance to improve website performance, share enhanced audience data,” the commission said, adding that YouTube had also agreed to support monetisation.
The platforms also committed to removing algorithmic bias favouring foreign outlets, it said.
Similar funding deals have been reached in countries including Taiwan, Canada, Australia and the United States in the face of mounting pressure from governments to introduce regulations requiring such arrangements.
Chinese social media platform TikTok had meanwhile agreed to provide new tools, including allowing media to insert links within videos to monetise off-platform content.
Social media platform X, owned by South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, did not reach a settlement and has been ordered to make all monetisation programmes available to local publishers and to provide training workshops.
The directive can be appealed, the commission said.
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