Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.US) has become the first company in the UK to receive a "strategic market status" designation, subjecting its online search and advertising operations to heightened scrutiny from British antitrust regulators. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that Google's entrenched market dominance is sufficient to warrant this designation, which aims to ensure fair competition in digital markets. The regulator has also raised concerns about the fairness of Google's search results, high advertising costs, and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated search responses.
"We found that Google holds a strategic position in search and search advertising - over 90% of all searches in the UK occur on its platform," CMA Digital Markets Executive Director Will Hayter said in a statement on Friday. The CMA noted that this investigation did not cover Google's Gemini AI assistant, but "given the uncertainty in market developments, this situation will continue to be assessed."
The UK's move to constrain Google follows multiple rounds of penalties imposed by the European Union against the company's business practices. Last month, the EU announced a fine of nearly €3 billion (approximately $3.5 billion) against Google and ordered the search giant to stop favoring its own advertising technology services. US President Donald Trump called the EU's action "extremely unfair" and threatened additional tariffs.
Following the CMA's announcement, Google's Senior Competition Director Oliver Bethell responded that the UK must avoid "costly restrictive measures" and "excessively burdensome regulation." "Multiple intervention proposals raised during this process could stifle innovation and growth in the UK, and may even delay product launches," Bethell stated.
The CMA's designation is based on stricter rules that took effect in the UK earlier this year, designed to regulate competition in digital markets. This designation does not imply that Google has engaged in anti-competitive behavior, but it opens the door for subsequent measures such as enforcement actions and penalties targeting how Google operates its search services in the UK.
The CMA indicated it will launch consultations on possible intervention measures later this year. The regulator previously disclosed that key areas of focus in this investigation include: allowing users to choose alternative search service providers and ensuring fairness in website rankings within search results.
The CMA also stated it plans to initiate a new round of investigations in 2026 to address additional concerns, such as Google's bargaining position with content publishers and control over the search advertising business.