Google rolls back spam policy in EU to avert antitrust fine

Alphabet's ↗ 0.78% Google announced on Friday that it will roll back parts of its spam policy in Europe to head off a potential antitrust fine under the Digital Markets Act, marking the latest concession by the tech giant to European regulators.

What's Changing

Starting August 30, Google will stop applying manual demotions under its "site reputation abuse" policy to users across the 27 EU member states, as well as Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein — the countries that make up the European Economic Area. The policy, which targets so-called parasite SEO — the practice of publishing third-party pages on a site to exploit the host's search ranking signals — will remain in effect for the rest of the world.wdez+1

The move comes after publishers complained that Google's enforcement was too broad, penalizing legitimate news media and other websites that include content from commercial partners alongside sites genuinely attempting to game search rankings. EU monitoring found that the policy was demoting publishers' websites and content in Google search results.reuters+1

Regulatory Pressure

The European Commission, acting as the EU's competition enforcer, had opened an investigation into the policy under the Digital Markets Act, which gives regulators the power to impose fines of up to 10% of a company's global annual turnover. By adjusting the policy before the investigation concluded, Google is attempting to avoid what could amount to a substantial financial penalty.reuters

The policy change adds to a growing list of regulatory headaches for Alphabet in Europe. The company was hit with an €890 million fine under the DMA in July 2026 and has a separate, finalized €4.1 billion fine related to its Android operating system.whalesbook

A Split Approach

The decision creates a two-track system for how Google manages search integrity globally. The company confirmed that its existing spam enforcement remains fully in place outside the EEA, meaning search results in Europe may differ from those in other regions. Whether this adjustment satisfies the European Commission or prompts demands for further changes remains to be seen.whalesbook