UK watchdog wants to curb Google’s search dominance

Google's next round of regulatory scrutiny is coming from the United Kingdom, with Britain's competition watchdog launching a clampdown.

New proposals by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) seek additional regulatory powers to intervene in how Google operates its general search and search advertising services.

The CMA has today published a roadmap of potential actions, including the introduction of 'choice screens' for users, as well as greater transparency for publishers, and 'fairer' web ranking systems.

Google, which accounts for over 90% of search queries in the UK, would also be required to support data portability to encourage competition under the proposals from the CMA.

“These targeted and proportionate actions would give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control over how they interact with Google’s search services – as well as unlocking greater opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector and broader economy,” said CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell.

Google, however, reckons these ideas may create uncertainty, and criticised the plan for being ' broad and unfocused'.

A decision is expected from the CMA in October.