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Google Tweaked Search to Comply With EU Rules. Yelp Says It Makes Results Even More Unfair
Google says its new designs comply with the Digital Markets Act, which bars platforms from favoring their own tools. Yelp says tests show one tweak made people even more likely to stick with Google.
The results, which Yelp shared with European regulators in December and WIRED this month, put some numerical backing behind complaints from Google rivals in travel, shopping, and hospitality that its efforts to comply with the DMA are insufficient—and potentially more harmful than the status quo. Yelp and thousands of others have been demanding that the EU hold a firm line against the giant companies including Apple and Amazon that are subject to what’s widely considered the world’s strictest antitrust law, violations of which can draw fines of up to 10 percent of global annual sales. Annalaura Gallo, a spokesperson for the EU Travel Tech Alliance, which represents Skyscanner, Airbnb, Expedia, and several others, says it hasn’t done any user research studies, because the design is blatantly out of step with the DMA.
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