Google offers changes to spam policy to avert EU antitrust fine

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BRUSSELS,, May 6 : Alphabet's Google has offered to change its spam policy criticised by publishers, according to a European Commission document seen by Reuters, in a move that may help it stave off an EU antitrust fine.

The U.S. tech giant found itself in EU regulators' crosshairs after publishers complained about its site reputation abuse policy. It targets the practice of publishing third-party pages on a site in an attempt to abuse search rankings by taking advantage of the host site's ranking signals, commonly referred to as parasite SEO.

That prompted the European Commission, which acts as the EU competition enforcer, to open an investigation in November under the Digital Markets Act, which aims to rein in the power of Big Tech.

Google has proposed changes to comply with the DMA, the document said, giving interested parties until next week to offer feedback.

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Google said it was engaging constructively with the Commission.

"Our priority is to keep Search results helpful and useful for users and protect them from deceptive practices like 'parasite SEO' spam that undermine the web," a spokesperson said.

The EU watchdog has said that its monitoring showed that Google's spam policy demotes news media and other publishers' websites and content in Google search results when those websites include content from commercial partners.

It said the policy directly impacts a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetise their websites and content.

DMA breaches can cost companies fines of up to 10 per cent of their global annual turnover.

The Commission declined to comment. Bloomberg was the first to report on Google's proposal.

($1 = 0.8511 euros)

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