The British antitrust regulator opens a probe into Google’s search services

LONDON – Britain’s competition watchdog on Tuesday said it would open a formal antitrust investigation into Google’s search and search advertising services.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it is looking to assess whether Google has “strategic market status” (SMS) under the UK’s new Markets, Competition and Consumer Act (DMCC).

The DMCC is a law that aims to prevent anti-competitive behavior in digital markets. Designating a company as having “SMS” would give the regulator the power to impose changes to prevent anti-competitive behaviour.

AlphabetGoogle was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said the regulator was examining Google’s dominance of the search market to ensure a “level playing field” – especially as artificial intelligence changes the way people search online .

“It’s our job to make sure 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 Cardell.

“And for businesses, whether you’re a rival search engine, an advertiser or a news organization, we want to make sure there’s a level playing field for all businesses, large and small, to succeed,” he added.

The CMA move follows an offer from the US Department of Justice to forcing Google to give up its Chrome browser. The DOJ filed to break the internet giant after finding that it has a monopoly in the search market.

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