Airlines, hotels and retailers are expressing concerns about changes to Google Search

Leading airlines, hotels and retailers have expressed concerns that they could be sidelined by changes to Google Search resulting from new European Union technology rules. Lobbying groups representing these industries have urged EU technology regulators to consider their perspective, and not just that of large intermediaries, as Google adapts to the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Airlines Group for Europe, which includes members such as Air France KLM and British Airways owner IAG, as well as hotel group Hotrec, European Hotel Forum, EuroCommerce, Ecommerce Europe and Independent Retail Europe, initially raised concerns in March about the potential impact of the DMA. The bill, which imposes a series of orders and prohibitions on Google and five other tech giants, is aimed at increasing user choice and creating competitive opportunities for rivals. However, these groups fear that the changes may negatively impact their sources of revenue.

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In a joint letter dated May 22 to the head of the EU antitrust office, Margrethe Vestager, and EU industry chief Thierry Breton, the groups expressed their growing concern. “Our industries have serious concerns that DMA implementation solutions and requirements currently under consideration may further increase discrimination,” they wrote.

The letter emphasized that preliminary observations show that these changes could significantly reduce companies’ revenues from direct sales by favoring powerful online intermediaries who would receive preferential treatment. They argue that it would disproportionately benefit large intermediaries and aggregators, at the expense of airlines, hotels, retailers and restaurants.

The European Commission is currently investigating Google for potential violations of the DMA. However, the Commission has not yet responded to requests for comments on this matter.

In a March blog post, Google acknowledged that changes to search results could increase traffic to large intermediaries and aggregators, potentially at the expense of direct sales for hotels, airlines, retailers and restaurants. Google did not provide any additional comments following the recent letter from industry groups.

The letter also highlights concerns that the ongoing investigation into non-compliance with the DMA appears to focus solely on the fair treatment of third-party services, while ignoring European companies that also offer services on Google. Lobbying groups have urged EU regulators to ensure a more balanced approach that takes into account the interests of all parties involved.

Source: Reuters