UK Wants Google to Offer Rival Search Choices and Fairer Rankings

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened a month-long consultation that could place Alphabet’s Google under the country’s new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, designating the company with “strategic market status” (SMS) in general search.

If the label is confirmed, the watchdog would gain sweeping powers to compel Google to display choice screens for alternative engines, revise its ranking system, and loosen control over publishers’ content and user data.

A final decision is due by 13 October.   

Why the CMA Is Moving Now?

Google handles more than 90% of general web queries in the United Kingdom, making search a “critical gateway to the internet” for millions of citizens and over 200,000 firms, the regulator said. UK businesses spent more than £10 billion advertising on Google Search last year, about £33 000 per advertiser. The CMA argues that such dominance allows Google to change ranking rules with little warning and to set advertising terms that smaller rivals cannot match.  

Here’s what the regulator want:

The consultation sets out a two-tier roadmap:

• Early measures (Category 1)

• Mandatory choice screens in Chrome and Android so users can switch search providers with a tap.
• A legally binding fair-ranking rule plus an expedited complaints channel for businesses that believe they have been demoted.
• New publisher controls over how articles, images and metadata are reused in Google Search, AI Overviews and Gemini.
• Data portability so people can transfer their search history to competing services.  

• Longer-term measures (Category 2) still under study and it cover Google’s default deals with handset makers, ad-tech transparency, and payments to news organisations.

CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell called the plan “targeted and proportionate,” adding that lower advertising costs and wider consumer choice would “unlock opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector.”

Google Pushes Back

Google’s senior director for competition, Oliver Bethell, warned that what he described as “punitive regulation” might discourage the company from rolling out new products in Britain. Bethell also noted that an SMS designation “does not imply anti-competitive conduct” but “presents clear challenges to critical areas of our business in the UK.”

The company has yet to publish a detailed counter-proposal but said it would engage with the CMA during the consultation. Industry stakeholders including specialised search engines and news publishers have until late July to respond.

Legal Background

The Digital Markets Act, which took effect in January, mirrors the European Union’s Digital Markets Act but lets the CMA tailor interventions to a single dominant activity rather than a whole company. Once SMS is confirmed, the regulator may impose binding orders and fine repeat offenders up to 10 percent of global turnover.

Intersection with AI Search

CMA’s draft decision explicitly covers Google’s AI Overviews, which offers brief generative answers that now appear above many organic results, and any future AI-based search upgrades. Gemini, Google’s standalone assistant, is excluded for now but remains under review as usage numbers rise.

Analysts say the inclusion of AI features signals the regulator’s intent to address emerging dominance before it becomes entrenched. Rival engines such as DuckDuckGo, Bing and Perplexity could benefit if choice screens become mandatory.

International Context

The UK move lands amid Google’s courtroom battles in the United States, where the Department of Justice accuses the firm of monopolising search and advertising, and fresh EU proceedings over alleged Digital Markets Act breaches. While Brussels opts for continent-wide rules, London is positioning its regime as faster and more flexible, choosing individual interventions over one-size-fits-all mandates.

What Happens Next?

The CMA will analyse consultation feedback over the summer. Should SMS be formalised in October, a first set of Category 1 orders could arrive “shortly afterwards,” the agency said. Early 2026 would bring proposals on the harder questions of ad-tech pricing and revenue-sharing with media outlets.

For Google, Britain accounts for roughly 5 percent of global search revenue, which is small enough to test regulatory concessions, yet large enough that any UK precedent could influence policymakers elsewhere. Investors and rival tech firms now look to whether the company will pre-emptively adjust search practices to head off a binding order.