Google is facing a major probe from the UK competition watchdog under new digital markets competition rules.
Under the new regime, which came into force this month, the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) must decide whether a small group of large tech companies should be handed "strategic market status" where they will be governed by special conduct requirements or interventions to improve competition for consumers and businesses.
This, the CMA's first strategic market status designation investigation, will assess how the search engine arm of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) uses its dominant position in search and associated advertising services – where it accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries – and how this impacts the market.
The regulator, which curtailed a probe into Google last summer due to the incoming rules, will look at the effects on advertisers, news publishers and rival search engines.
"For businesses, effective competition could keep down the costs of search advertising, equivalent to nearly £500 per household per year, in turn lowering prices across the economy," the CMA said in a statement.
The investigation will assess whether Google is using its position to prevent innovation by others, whether it is using its position to push its own services above others in markets including shopping and travel, and whether Google's is engaging in the collection and use of large quantities of consumer data without informed consent, as well as using publisher content without fair terms, conditions and payment.
Last year a competition tribunal ruled that a £13.6 billion ($17.2 billion) court battle could go ahead over claims by a group of UK publishers that Google abused its power in the online advertising market.
The CMA said that the investigation must be completed by September and a decision reached by 13 October 2025.
When the watchdog prematurely ended an ongoing probe into Google and Apple last August on the grounds of administrative priorities, it said "remains concerned that Google and Apple are using their market positions via the Play Store and App Store respectively to set terms which may be unfair to UK app developers and which may restrict competition and consumer choice, potentially leading to higher prices and reduced choice for app users".
It rejected commitments submitted by Google in response to its concerns as the proposals did not address competition concerns effectively and said if the companies come to be designated as having ‘strategic market status’ it would have more powers to consider the range of issues "more holistically" than under previous rules.