Google Changes EU Spam Policy Amid Antitrust Scrutiny

Google has revised its spam policy in Europe after concerns from European Union regulators raised the possibility of a significant antitrust fine for Alphabet, the search giant’s parent company.

The company said Friday that it would adjust how its site reputation abuse policy is enforced across the European Economic Area (EEA). The change follows complaints from publishers that the policy unfairly affected the visibility of their websites in Google Search.

Google’s site reputation abuse rules are designed to combat a practice commonly known as “parasite SEO.” This occurs when third-party content is published on an established website primarily to benefit from the host domain’s ranking signals and gain a higher position in search results.

However, EU regulators found that enforcement of the Google spam policy could negatively affect legitimate publishers. According to the EU, monitoring showed that news organizations and other publishers could see their websites or content demoted in Google search results when they hosted material provided by commercial partners.

Google said that beginning August 30, manual actions used to demote websites under the policy will no longer apply to users located in the 27 EU member states, as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. Together, these countries make up the European Economic Area.

The company stressed that its spam policy will remain unchanged for users outside the EEA, meaning the adjustment is specifically targeted at addressing European regulatory concerns.

The dispute had drawn scrutiny from the European Commission, the EU’s competition regulator, which opened an investigation into Google under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The legislation was introduced to curb the market power of major technology platforms designated as digital gatekeepers and ensure fairer competition across Europe’s digital economy.

Failure to comply with the DMA can carry substantial financial consequences. Companies found in breach of the rules can face fines of up to 10% of their total worldwide annual turnover.

Google’s latest policy adjustment could help address the Commission’s concerns while reducing the risk of further regulatory action over how its search algorithms and spam enforcement practices affect European publishers.