By Mauro Orru


U.K. antitrust officials said they were probing Google over its search services and how they might affect competition in the country, the first investigation of its kind under a new digital-markets regime that could force the Alphabet-owned company to make concessions.

The Competition and Markets Authority said the investigation would seek to gauge the extent of Google's sway in search and search-advertising services and how it might affect consumers and businesses like advertisers, news publishers and rival search engines.

The probe comes less than two weeks since the U.K.'s new digital-markets competition regime came into force. Under the regime, antitrust officials can designate companies with so-called strategic market status in relation to a particular digital activity and impose conduct requirements to make sure companies are competing fairly.

Officials will now assess whether Google has strategic market status in the search and search-advertising sectors in the U.K. and whether conduct requirements are warranted. These could include requiring Google to make the data it collects available to other businesses, or cede more control to publishers over how their data are used, including in Google's artificial-intelligence services.

"It's our job to ensure people get the full benefit of choice and innovation in search services and get a fair deal--for example in how their data is collected and stored," said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA. "And for businesses, whether you are a rival search engine, an advertiser or a news organization, we want to ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed."

A Google spokesperson said the company would continue to engage constructively with the CMA to ensure that new rules benefit all types of websites.

Officials said they would look at potential barriers to entry and innovation in search and whether Google is leveraging its weight in the industry to prevent innovation by others. Antitrust enforcers will also probe whether the company is self-preferencing its own services, such as search services for shopping and travel.

The CMA said it planned to engage with advertising firms, news publishers and user groups and gather evidence from Google itself to build its case. It has until October to reach a decision.

Antitrust officials acknowledged that Google's search services have generated significant benefits in the U.K. since they act as a gateway through which millions of people and businesses access and navigate the internet. Google accounts for more than 90% of general search queries in the country, where more than 200,000 advertisers use its search advertising, officials said.

However, the latest probe ratchets up regulatory pressure on Google. The CMA said in September last year that the company might be stifling competition by favoring its own ad-tech services that advertisers and publishers use to bid for and sell advertising space.

The CMA said a preliminary investigation found that most publishers and advertisers use Google's ad-tech services. Officials were concerned the company was leveraging its position to favor its own services, preventing rivals from competing on a level playing field to provide publishers and advertisers with alternatives.

Google said at the time that it disagreed with U.K. officials as the core of the case rested on flawed interpretations of the ad-tech sector.

"Millions of people and businesses across the U.K. rely on Google's search and advertising services," Cardell said in relation to the latest investigation. "That's why it's so important to ensure these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses and that there is a level playing field, especially as AI has the potential to transform search services."


Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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