Airlines, Hotels, and Businesses are Concerned About Being Left Out of Google's Search Upgrades
Lobbying groups representing airlines, hotels, and retailers have expressed concerns about Google's search changes. The groups fear that the adjustments could negatively impact their revenues. The European Commission is investigating Google for possible DMA breaches.
The groups, including Airlines for Europe, hotel group Hotrec, and Independent Retail Europe, expressed their worries about the impact of the new rules imposed by the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The DMA aims to provide users with more choice and give rivals a fair chance to compete with tech giants like Google. However, the industry groups fear that the adjustments could negatively affect their revenues. In a joint letter to EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager and EU industry chief Thierry Breton, the groups highlighted their mounting concerns.
The letter stated, "Our industries have serious concerns that currently considered solutions and requirements for implementing the DMA could further increase discrimination." The groups worry that the changes could favor powerful online intermediaries, leading to a depletion of direct sales revenues for companies in the industry.
The European Commission, which is investigating Google for potential DMA violations, has yet to reply to the industry organisations' complaints. Google, on the other hand, has previously stated in a blog post that the modifications to search results increase traffic for huge middlemen and aggregators while potentially lowering visibility for hotels, airlines, shops, and restaurants.
The lobbying groups are particularly worried that the non-compliance probe focuses primarily on fair treatment of third-party services, failing to recognise the European firms who also sell their services on Google. They argue that European enterprises should be given equal attention and not excluded from the search adjustments.
Lobbying groups representing airlines, hotels, and retailers have expressed concerns about Google's search changes.
The groups fear that the adjustments could negatively impact their revenues.
The European Commission is investigating Google for possible DMA breaches.
Source: REUTERS