Written by Fu Yun Chi
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – German email service Tuta Mail has complained to the European Union about a sudden drop in Google search results on the day the EU’s new technology regulations began. I filed a complaint with the technology regulator.
The European Commission launched an investigation into Alphabet’s Google, Apple and Metaplatform last month over possible violations of the new Digital Markets Act (DMA), but Google’s lawsuit alleges that search results discriminate against third-party services. It was partially focused on whether
Tuta Mail, which claims to be the world’s second largest encrypted email service with more than 10 million users, filed a complaint with the DMA Task Force on Tuesday.
“In early March 2024, Google suddenly stopped displaying our website for thousands of keywords and diverted the majority of search traffic to our site to so-called ‘branded traffic,'” the company said in a complaint seen by Reuters. ” only.”
“This means that users will no longer be able to find our encrypted email provider when they search for ‘encrypted email’ and will only find it when they explicitly search for ‘Tuta’ or ‘Tutanota.’ ”, the company said.
Matthias Pfau, CEO of Tuta Mail, said he could not understand why his company’s rankings dropped on the day the DMA was activated.
“It’s clear that Google changed something in their search algorithm, but we don’t know what they changed or why they changed it,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“We attempted to contact Google to discuss this issue but were met with radio silence.”
Google said it does not unfairly promote its products. Tech experts said that websites could lose Google rankings due to algorithm changes.
“The search ranking updates are not intended to favor Google products or any other specific website. The email providers in question are easily accessible around the world on Search,” the spokesperson said. said the person.
“We appreciate your feedback and will consider ways to ensure that search continues to return the most useful and relevant results.”
The commission declined to provide details.
“The European Commission monitors gatekeepers’ compliance with their obligations, including the status of ongoing proceedings. We are unable to comment on specific concerns being raised,” the spokesperson said.
Pfau said the impact on Tuta Mail was dramatic.
“After removing most branded keywords, we found that the total number of impressions per month (30 days) decreased by 88.47%. Google took away about 90% of our online visibility,” he said. Told.
“We want the DMA Task Force to include our data in its investigation into Google’s compliance with the DMA,” he said.
While the DMA will mean that Big Tech will not be able to favor its services over its rivals in the rankings due to a list of prohibitions, it will also allow for more, such as allowing competing services to be used alongside its own. Requiring competitors and users to have more options.
(Reporting by Fu Yun Qi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
