EU Grants Google More Time to Fix DMA Concerns After Remedy Falls Short

Commission Rejects Google's First Offer

The European Commission announced on Friday that it is granting Alphabet's Google additional time to address competition concerns under the Digital Markets Act, after the company's earlier remedy proposal was deemed insufficient. Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels that Google's previous offer fell short of regulator expectations, stating that the proposed solution was simply not strong enough to address concerns in the interest of European businesses and citizens.

The extension comes just days after Google filed a remedies offer proposing changes to how it ranks news content in search results. The company also offered to amend its anti-spam policies, which have drawn extensive complaints from publishers across Europe seeking more favourable treatment in search rankings.

The Site Reputation Abuse Investigation

The investigation, opened by the Commission in November 2025, centres on Google's site reputation abuse policy, introduced in March 2024. Under that policy, Google demotes pages on otherwise reputable websites when those pages host third-party content the company judges to be low quality or unrelated to the host site's main purpose, a practice commonly known as parasite SEO.

Publishers have argued that the policy unfairly punishes legitimate business arrangements and restricts their ability to monetise their websites through partnerships with third-party content providers. The Commission is examining whether the policy breaches Articles 6(5) and 6(12) of the DMA, which require Google to apply fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory conditions to business users of its search engine.

High Stakes for Alphabet

A breach of the DMA could expose Google to fines of up to 10 percent of Alphabet's global annual turnover, or 20 percent for repeat offences. The company has already accumulated approximately 9.5 billion euros in EU competition penalties since the 2017 Google Shopping decision.

The Commission has charged Google with breaching the DMA and is in the process of finalising its decision. Industry groups representing European publishers have grown increasingly frustrated with the pace of enforcement, with 18 organisations signing an open letter in April urging the Commission to act after what they described as two years of non-compliance.

What Happens Next

Google now has additional time to engage with the Commission and offer a stronger solution. Failure to reach an acceptable agreement could result in formal charges and substantial financial penalties, marking another significant chapter in the ongoing regulatory battle between Brussels and Big Tech.