Quattro search engine rivals of Google they asked EU lawmakers to address the tech giant’s continued domination of the market. Search engines have requested to establish rules for the preferences menu of search engines. According to them the ability of the tech giant to put default settings harmful is continuing to limit how easily consumers can switch to a non-Google alternative.
Google and search engines: the rivals’ dilemma
In an open letter, search engines DuckDuckGo and Qwant, along with tech-for-good Lilo and non-profit Ecosia, urge the region’s lawmakers to go beyond to face the market power of the giants of the platform. Below is what Google’s rivals reported in the open letter.
DMA urgently needs to be adapted to prevent gatekeepers from suppressing search engine competition. In particular, the DMA would have to enact a requirement in law for a search engine preferences menu that would prohibit Google from acquiring the default search access points of gatekeeper operating systems and browsers. Furthermore, the DMA should ensure that consumers can change settings with a single click at any time. This would be through suggestions from competing search engine apps or websites. These actions would finally lead to significant competition implications in the search engine market and ensure a real choice for online consumers.
The Commission presented the law on digital markets at the end of last year. The law proposed a set of ex ante rules for the so-called “gatekeepers” of the Internet. The goal was to ensure that these Internet giants brokers could not abuse their power to crush competitors and take advantage of consumers.
However the four search engines claim that the legislation it does not contain any measures capable of breaking Google’s continued dominance in Europe. For this reason they decided to send the letter e ask for very specific rules.
While the Commission was responsible for the original draft of the DMA, the other main EU institutions need to agree on the details. At the moment, negotiations on the exact form of the regulation are continuing, so we just have to wait for more information on the matter.