New antitrust regulations take effect and UK regulators strike at Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOGL.US) with heavy hand.

Alphabet Inc. Class C, a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGL.US), is facing its first investigation by UK regulatory authorities under stricter digital market anti-monopoly regulations, with the investigation expected to last for 9 months. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on January 14th that it will launch its first 'Strategic Market Status' (SMS) designated investigation into Alphabet Inc. Class C using its newly acquired powers. The investigation will assess Alphabet Inc. Class C's position in the search and search advertising services sector, and its impact on consumers and businesses (including advertisers, news publishers, and competitors' search engines). Under the new digital market competition regime that came into effect on January 1, 2025, the CMA has been granted greater authority including the ability to require companies to provide information, impose hefty fines on companies, and implement remedies to promote competition. The CMA stated in a release, "CMA will evaluate how competition is working and whether Alphabet Inc. Class C is using its position to stifle innovation." As global regulatory authorities seek to address the anti-competitive impacts of a few dominant tech companies in the market, this anti-monopoly investigation is one of a series of highly anticipated investigations. Meanwhile, Alphabet Inc. Class C is also fighting a command from US regulatory authorities to sell its Chrome web browser, and the company is also gearing up to combat the Trump administration's crackdown on tech giants. A spokesperson for Alphabet Inc. Class C stated, "Alphabet Inc. Class C's search helps millions of UK businesses grow in innovative ways." The CMA recognizes the importance of search for economic growth, while Alphabet Inc. Class C has expressed its commitment to "continue constructive cooperation with the CMA to ensure the new rules benefit all types of websites." CMA stated that under the digital market competition regime, regulatory authorities can impose behavioral requirements on Alphabet Inc. Class C, such as instructing Alphabet Inc. Class C to provide the data it collects to other businesses, or giving publishers more control over how their data is used. According to CMA data, Alphabet Inc. Class C holds over 90% of the market share for all online search queries in the UK. The investigation will focus on whether Alphabet Inc. Class C is able to influence the development of new artificial intelligence services like "answer engines" in an anti-competitive manner, and whether this search engine giant prioritizes its own services, such as shopping and travel, by leveraging its market dominance.