Google’s search ad business faces fresh investigation from UK’s competition watchdog

Britain’s competition watchdog said Tuesday it’s investigating Google’s search ad business.

Britain's competition watchdog said Tuesday it's investigating Google's search ad business, adding to global scrutiny that the U.S. tech giant is facing.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it will examine whether Google is weakening competition by stifling innovation, giving preference to its own services, or exploiting user data.

Using new powers to investigate competition in digital markets, the watchdog said it would determine whether Google should be given “strategic market status” that would require imposing remedies to change its behavior.

The regulator said it will look in particular at Google's role in shaping the development of new artificial services and interfaces such as “answer engines," in ways that “limit the competitive constraint they impose on Google Search.”

AI-powered chatbots have become increasingly popular with internet users looking for information online. Google last year retooled its search engine so that it now frequently favors responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links.

Google said in a statement that it "will continue to engage constructively with the CMA to ensure that new rules benefit all types of websites, and still allow people in the U.K. to benefit from helpful and cutting-edge services.”

AI's potential to transform online search services means fair competition is important, said Sarah Cardell, the U.K. regulator's chief executive.