Google arguments draw scepticism from judge in ad tech case

Google plans to make adjustments to displaying search results on its platform in Europe after some smaller rivals complained about lower traffic to their sites following previous tweaks by the Alphabet unit and as EU regulators probe whether the company breached EU tech rules.

Under the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), Google is prohibited from favouring its products and services on its platform. The Act kicked in last year and is aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech. The world's most popular internet search engine has since then tried to address conflicting demands from price-comparison sites, hotels, airlines, and small retailers, among others. The latter three groups said their direct booking clicks have fallen by 30 per cent due to recent Google changes.

"We have therefore proposed more changes to our European search results to try to accommodate these requests, while still meeting the goals set by the DMA," Google's legal director, Oliver Bethell, said in a blog post on Tuesday.