Google is trying to avoid EU fine over news publisher’s search revenue

Google has reportedly made the European Commission an offer to adjust its policy against SEO spam in an attempt to evade a hefty antitrust fine.

In November 2025, the executive branch of the EU received complaints that Google was demoting media publishers’ content in its search results based on its site reputation abuse policy.

According to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google is obligated to apply fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory conditions of access to publishers’ websites on Google Search. Google’s site reputation abuse policy might be infringing this stipulation.

Therefore, the European Commission launched an investigation to see whether Google’s demotions of publishers’ websites and content in Google Search may have impacted publishers’ freedom to conduct legitimate business.

“We will investigate to ensure that news publishers are not losing out on important revenues at a difficult time for the industry, and to ensure Google complies with the Digital Markets Act,” Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, said.

Google claims that its site reputation abuse policy aims to tackle practices that manipulate search rankings by exploiting ​the host site’s ranking signals, commonly referred to as parasite SEO.

According to documents from the executive branch of the EU, seen by Reuters, Google has proposed changes to how news results are displayed across its search engine.

It’s unclear what kind of changes Google is proposing.

In a statement, Google said that it’s “continuing to engage constructively” with the European Commission.

“Our priority is to keep search results helpful and useful for users and protect them from deceptive practices like ‘parasite SEO’ spam that undermines the web,” a Google spokesperson told the press agency.

Bloomberg, who spoke to sources familiar with the situation, says that Google could avoid a formal order to change its business practices under the DMA if it wins approval from market rivals and EU regulators.

In addition, Google could potentially avoid hefty antitrust penalties, which could go as high as 10% of its global annual revenue.

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