May the anti-trust hammer finally hits it target!
If what the EU says is true, that means that there is a clear malicious intent by Google to weaponize its anti-spam policy against websites that have third-party providers.
The Commission said on Thursday that it had found signs that Google is using the policy to push news media and other publishers’ websites and content lower in search rankings when they include content from their business partners, and that the policy “appears to directly impact a common and legitimate way for publishers to monetise their websites and content.”
The EC is now investigating if Google’s policy impacts publishers’ “freedom to conduct legitimate business, innovate, and cooperate with third-party content providers.”
According to Google’s page on the policy, the measures are aimed at curbing websites that seek to manipulate search rankings by publishing other websites’ content on their site in an attempt to take advantage of their high ranking signal.
Then again, we all hate spam here. Publishing other websites’ content is often a common sign of spam. Curious to see if this sticks at all.