Landmark EU tech rules holding back innovation, Google says

Alphabet’s Google will on Tuesday warn EU antitrust regulators and its critics that landmark European Union rules aimed at reining in Big Tech are hampering innovation to the detriment of European users and businesses.

The U.S. tech giant will also urge regulators to give more detailed guidance to help it comply with the rules, and ask its critics to provide evidence of costs and benefits to prove their case.

Google is under pressure to address charges under the EU’s Digital Markets Act that it favours its own services such as Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over rivals. The charges may result in fines of as much as 10% of its global annual revenue.

Earlier this month, Google proposed more changes to its search results to better showcase rival products, but critics say these still do not ensure a level playing field.

“We remain genuinely concerned about real world consequences of the DMA, which are leading to worse online products and experiences for Europeans,” Google’s lawyer Clare Kelly will tell a workshop organised by the European Commission to give Google critics the opportunity to seek clarifications.

She will say changes implemented by Google to date after discussions with the Commission and its critics have resulted in European users paying more for travel tickets as they cannot directly access airline sites, according to a copy of her speech seen by Reuters.

Kelly will also say European airlines, hotels and restaurants have reported up to a 30% loss in direct booking traffic, while users have complained about clunky workarounds.

Google’s other lawyer, Oliver Bethell, will ask regulators to spell out in detail what the company needs to do, and critics to come up with hard evidence.

“If we can understand precisely what compliance looks like, not just in theory, but taking account of on the ground experience, we can launch compliant services quickly and confidently across the EEA,” he will say.

The EEA is the 27 EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

“We need help identifying the areas where we should focus. That means bringing real evidence of costs and benefits that we can take account of with the Commission,” Bethell said.

The day-long workshop starts at 0700 GMT.