Google Will 'Degrade' Search In Europe to Avoid EU Fines

Google says it will overhaul Search in Europe to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act, giving more prominence to comparison services like Expedia and Hotels.com while stripping some real-time features from hotel, airline, and restaurant results. "These changes degrade the user experience for Europeans -- boosting online intermediaries at the expense of local businesses, and removing helpful features people rely on every day," said Nick Fox, senior vice-president of knowledge and information at Google. The company claims its past search changes for DMA compliance were tied to a 30% decrease "in free, direct booking traffic to European businesses." Engadget reports: That sanction was the latest salvo between the EU government and a US tech company for infringing on its Digital Markets Act. The debate centers on the DMA requirement that major tech brands "must not treat their own services more favorably in ranking than third-party services."

[...] According to Reuters, Google's revised search results "will highlight one specialized search engine at the top of the page, followed by two others with fewer details. A carousel of hotels, airlines and restaurants, for example, will sit below them with key features such as real-time prices stripped out." Those specialized engines include sites like Expedia or Hotels.com, also known as vertical search services, so European users may soon see those aggregators and comparison sites prioritized more highly than individual businesses' websites in their results.

Reuters noted that "the rankings will be determined by Google's algorithm," meaning the tech company still holds a lot of control over how results are displayed. The EC had given Google 60 days to comply with its rules, but the company has not specified an exact timeline for when European users will start seeing the changes.

It's... it's... it's...

[greytree]

It's almost as if Google is evil and needs to be totally regulated by governments so they comply with what we should be able to expect of an omnipresent company.

Re:

[F.Ultra]

What alternative? Without regulation every single service will be just as bad.

Re:

[Computershack]

What alternative? Without regulation every single service will be just as bad.

Ecosia and Qwant both European search engines. Both are currently in the process of developing EUSP (European Search Perspective), a search index built by Ecosia and Qwant, based in Paris, so they have to rely less on Bing and Google Search.

Re:

[F.Ultra]

so basically just an example of my point...

Re:

[F.Ultra]

They are just one acquisition away from turning evil, without regulation you have no guarantees what so ever. In fact you don't even know that these services do behind closed doors since they do not have to even disclose it.

Already?

[wgoodman]

Google search is already heavily degraded by all of that crap.

Re:Already?

[TheWho79]

Yep - AIO is the biggest degrade in the history of search - just filthy stupid. I've been changing to Claude and Chatgpt almost exclusively for search. *uck Google.

Re:

[Z00L00K]

Except that I trust even the AIs to provide a correct answer even less. Everyone is tainted today. Heck - even Yandex starts to look trustworthy.

Re: Already?

[muffen]

No European search engines to choose from?

There are, tried them, but my conclusion is that country of origin doesn't seem to matter much. I rarely search these days but if I do I use my hermes bot via telegram, that uses a few different search APIs underneath. That together with some reasonable instructions to the ai works fairly well.

Re:

[dunkelfalke]

Yandex is russian. Not that it matters much, but it is funny when someone that clueless calls other people retards.

Re:

[Malc]

It was a joke! It should have been modded funny.

Re:

[Epeeist]

No European search engines to choose from?

There are a number of European search engines [european-alternatives.eu]. The major problem is that people don't know that they exist.

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

No European search engines to choose from?

There are a number of European search engines [european-alternatives.eu]. The major problem is that people don't know that they exist.

Why doesn't the EU fine its citizens who use non-EU search engines? Indeed, why doesn't the EU create an EU government search engine, where the government has total control over every search? Maybe even make it a crime to use any other?

That would fix all their issues with the rest of the world's tech, and protect their citizens.

Re:

[Local ID10T]

1. The results would be worse.
2. Where's the profit in that?
3. Politics is not about solving problems, it is about visibly fighting the problem so you can get re-elected to fight the problem..

Re:

[Ol Olsoc]

1. The results would be worse. 2. Where's the profit in that? 3. Politics is not about solving problems, it is about visibly fighting the problem so you can get re-elected to fight the problem..

Don't forget, the fines are money in the bank. And I thought the EU believed that profit is at base, immoral.

Re:

[Sloppy]

This is just too fucking hilarious. If I ask Google for "European search engines" the very first link [after the "AI overview"] is literally that page.

If any Europeans are saying they have to use Google because they don't know about the European search engines, it's because they have never looked for European search engines. The very words are the key to the solution. Google it, Europeans, and then you can be free of Google! Google just one final time.

Re:

[Computershack]

No European search engines to choose from?

Ecosia, which I've been using for over a year, and Qwant. Both source from Bing and Google as well whilst they continue to expand EUSP (European Search Perspective), a search index built by Ecosia and Qwant and based in Paris.

Re:

[TheWho79]

Went looking for just Euro engines. There are a few out there: https://www.searchengineworld.... [searchengineworld.com]

Re:

[nightflameauto]

Google search is already heavily degraded by all of that crap.

Gotta read the corporate language. Degrading the user experience = "this may lower overall profitability by a penny or two per hundred thousand.' Now, it could also mean 'giving the users what they would prefer,' but that tends to be coincidence, rather than intent.

Re:

[Errol backfiring]

Yes, but until now they did not degrade the degrading...

Figures

[abulafia]

They degraded it in their homeland almost a decade ago.

While this might degrade the user experience

[taustin]

this isn't intended to protect that. It's intended to protect their competitors. Which it may or may not do well, but Google whining about user experience is an open admission that they know full well they are the problem.

Re:While this might degrade the user experience

[allo]

And the Enshittification playbook is, that once the competitors are gone, they start degrading it for the users. Currently they may spare the user a click, but if the competition is eliminated they start charging sites for the click and the sites add the cost to the cost the user pays (direct or indirect). Competition is important to ensure fair play.

Re:While this might degrade the user experience

[gweihir]

And that is why anti-trust action is so important. Fortunately the EU does understand that, even if the US does not. Or rather in the US consumer has been conned in not asking for rights and protections and actively asking to be exploited.

Re:

[allo]

And nobody should be surprised, that GAFAM doesn't understand that.

Re:

[gweihir]

I think they understand that just fine. But they are bad people. Remember that even a massive organization is eventually just people.

Re:

[allo]

My subtext may have been too subtle. Nobody should be surprised they DO NOT WANT to understand it.
It's hard to make someone understand something when they are making money by not understanding it.

Re:

[gweihir]

What they do not do is respect it. They obviously understand it, and they do not care about the damage to society they do.

That was the guy from before.

[outsider007]

The guy who did my job before me took some weird blood oath, apparently. That's no reason to prevent me from dishonoring my ancestors. I mean, I never even met that guy.

Re:

[Narcocide]

They did at some point, years ago, quietly remove that clause from their company charter. There was no press release about it when it happened, but it was reported here on Slashdot at the time. IIRC, it was right around the same time they got caught illegally photographing private property and mapping wifi network SSIDs for their "Street View" data.

Do people still use Google for search?

[Valgrus Thunderaxe]

Honest question.

Re:

[allo]

From time to time, prefering duckduckgo as default.
When Google completely rolls out their goto= URLs the cases when I still use Google will get reduced to almost zero.

Re:

[jenningsthecat]

From time to time, prefering duckduckgo as default.

I've about given up on DDG. I hate using Google, but too often I can find useful results there when I find no results at all on DDG.

I've also tried going back to Startpage, but it's little better. Internet search just basically sucks now.

Re:

[PPH]

Yandex.

Re:

[allo]

I think they changes sources several time and may be combining multiple. Using Google is expensive these day I think and I am not sure how large scale contracts they do with sites that offer search as direct competition. Bing on the other hand is the backend of quite a lot of "independent" search engines. It looks like that's one of their business models.

Re:

[Shades72]

DDG is using Bing as underlying search engine, as far as I know. So no wonder that DDG isn't doing searches all that well anymore. Here in South-America, Bing always has shown disappointing results. Since their inception, really. Maybe that it was different if one hailed from 'freedom country' and that it has become as useless in the US as it has been everywhere else.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It's all fucking garbage. Lycos or Altavista would be better today.

Re:Do people still use Google for search?

[jenningsthecat]

It's all fucking garbage. Lycos or Altavista would be better today.

I have fond, fond memories of AltaVista from back in the day. It actually honoured my search terms and operators, and - shock of shocks! - gave me NO hits when there were no relevant results. Unlike today, when multiple excludes are totally ignored and the results just shove low-grade shit in my face.

I'm planning on playing around more with ChatGPT to see how well it does with simple Arduino and OpenSCAD coding. I think I'll try using it for search as well - it probably can't be worse than the search engines I curse at every day.

Re:

[Uldis Segliņš]

Sadly this is true. No search engine that respects my search terms. They all fuzzymix in some related words, then takes top two most popular and does search on that. Fresh garbage, here you have, still steamy, eat it while you can.

Re:

[flink]

I broke down and started paying for Kagi.

Re:

[gweihir]

About once per month or less to confirm that it does not find what the alternatives do not find either.

Re:Do people still use Google for search?

[coofercat]

I'm fully sold on Qwant now - it's been my go-to on all my devices for months, and I've got to say, it's just better.

It does still sometimes seem to push youtube more than I'd like, but the AI answers are brief and don't get in the way (and are often quite useful), but most of all the results you get actually stand a a chance of being useful. They don't seem to be so blatantly lead by how big the company is, and seem to actually include pages with the search terms you asked for (if you can imagine such a thing!)

All in all, Qwant seems to be google without the layers of "business" piled on top of it.

Re:

[TwistedGreen]

I use DuckDuckGo primarily and it's usually okay, but often for more obscure searches I need to fall back on Google. It is still superior, but only by a hair. All search engines are polluted with the bot-generated SEO "answers pages" that just contain a thousand variations on the same question, though. Different search engines won't fix that.

Re:

[Errol backfiring]

I use Startpage.com since it was still called IxQuick. Before that, I used NorthernLights, but they do not exist anymore.

'Degrade'...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Pity the poor Europeans, crying out without the bot slop occupying the top half of the results. I wonder what Google is going to do to ensure that the 'degraded' results aren't universally preferred to the alternative?

Re:

[gweihir]

No idea. I have stopped using Google search a long time ago because it became total crap.

Re:

[jenningsthecat]

I degraded Google's Mom.

In Soviet Russia, Google's Mom degrade YOU!!!

Google caves to petty dictators

[Required Snark]

The Gulf of America and Lake America.

Coming soon: the Trump Straights and the State of New America.

When will he change the calendar to suit his whims? [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[Required Snark]

This just in! The TV Show South Park is rebranding to South America [youtube.com].

It makes perfect sense because they're under the umbrella of the Trump controlled state media organization Skydance/Paramount and they're following the lead of Google and Apple in groveling to the current regime. Trey and Matt are Patriotic Americans [wikipedia.org] who obviously support the flag and all it stands for and would never produce anything that would challenge our Orange Cheeto Fearless Leader.

The EUMC

[ahoffer0]

Since the ePrivacy Directive of 2009 resulted in pop-up dialogs for accepting, rejecting, or partially accepting cookies, this kind of response became completely predictable. Let's call the phenomenon "Enshitification Under Malicious Compliance," or EUMC for short.

Re:

[gweihir]

I like that. Obviously, the only one Google is hurting with that malicious compliance is themselves. Good.

So uhh

[paul_engr]

What did they do to search inthe US? It's certainly degraded

"boosting online intermediaries"

[thegarbz]

Well yes, that's the point. We want online intermediaries *plural*, not just for Google to be the only online intermediary.

"Degrade"? Somehow I do not see that...

[gweihir]

But what do I know. I have stopped using Google search a long time ago.

Here's a wild idea

[DrXym]

If I search for hotels, or a specific hotel, why not put THEIR website and THEIR prices first instead of burying it below a bunch of parasitic booking sites?

Re:

[djinn6]

Because most people who type in "Fiji hotel" aren't actually looking for a hotel named "Fiji hotel". Most want a list of hotels with prices for comparison.

Re:

[q_e_t]

There's a hotel in London called California. That can get confusing on many levels. I went once and obviously I am still here.

Re:

[DrXym]

Anyone who types "fiji hotel" can be shown a map of fiji with hotels marked on it. If they click on a marker, they can be shown as the first result the hotel's own website and rates before any other site's. If there are any sponsored hotels, or booking sites parasitizing from the search, including Google's own affiliate deals, then they also can be shown below the true result. This is not rocket science.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

people are almost NEVER looking for scum sites that are at the top of the list, those are only their because they pay to be there. It has got to the point you have to immediately scroll to the bottom of the results and work up to avoid the shit.

Consequences

[Fons_de_spons]

EU here, we can live with these consequences. Thank you google for conforming to our rules.

Translation

[GeekWithAKnife]

"We cannot be fair or stop engaging in anti-competitive practices without stressing the negatives and making sure people know it's always bad to regulate us."

Stop using Google to search, use AI.

[freddienumber13]

Seriously, stop using Google to search. Use Gemini or ChatABC or anything. Why? No ads. Stop using Google to search and start using AI to search. Be smart about your searching and ad revenue to Google will drop.

How long will this last? Don't know but right now, only a mug is using Google to search for anything. Or a person that wants to see ads.

Expedia and Hotels.com

[Malc]

These are the same thing these days!

After Expedia bought Hotels.com, they killed off their rewards scheme and all their prices went up against others like Booking.com. They backtracked on the rewards scheme, but it's still not as good as it was before. They also made things like the login experience harder (why are they sending me 2FA emails instead of text messages, which are faster and auto populate in my browser almost immediately?!).

I haven't booked through Hotels.com for years because they are more e

Google Will 'Degrade' Search

[Growlley]

No, No, No! Adding more adverts is a feature to make it better for users.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

I think it is more the millenials. They are near brain dead nowadays, most wouldn't even know they still use search.

I wonder...

[Fuzi719]

... if there's going to be a shortage of aluminum what with all the foil-hat making you geeks are doing.

Re:

[whitroth]

Um, er... exactly why are you here on slashdot, "news for nerds"?

Lol

[bloodhawk]

Lol, as if google helps local businesses, the whole point is they are destroying local businesses in favour of theirs.

Leave Europe completely...

[nazzdeq]

Let them build their own search engine. All they know how to do is pass regulations.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

It is a shame fucking US government can't do some proper regulation, then google search might not be bullshit mess it has become where they provide ads and results to profit themselves instead of actual results.