• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, May 29, 2025

Google is restricting user access in a way that limits rivalry from publishers, according to comments submitted last week by the News/Media Alliance to the Federal Trade Commission.

This is one of two blasts issued against Google by the Alliance in the space of a week. In the other, the Alliance criticized Google for its new AI Mode and its probable impact on publishers. Of course, the mere issuing of a statement  does not mean Google is culpable, or that it would not prevail in court if a suit was filed. 

In its comments to the FTC, the Alliance says significant harms have resulted from Google’s changes to its site reputation abuse policy. This change “seriously undermines publishers’ ability to monetize their content on their own websites that compete with Google.”

Last year, for instance, “Google adjusted its ranking algorithm to de-rank, and in some instances delist entirely, portions of publishers’ websites providing coupons and other promotional material, and sports betting, lottery, and gaming content,” the Alliance continues. 

The purported idea behind this is to reduce “spam” from search results pages. But the policy “effectively eliminates access to third-party access to third-party pages carrying promotional material outside Google’s own ecosystem,” the Alliance charges.

In addition, Google’s policy update “now impacts properties that incorporate third-party or affiliate content, even when such content is overseen and controlled, written, or edited by dedicated staff – sometimes hired specifically to comply with Google’s original policy and its exemption for sites with editorial oversight or involvement.”

In one instance, a  publisher hired more than 30 reporters to ensure the content they publish complied with Google’s Site Reputation Abuse policy. But it didn’t work. 

“Once de-ranked, even in error, it can take Google weeks or months, through a process that is neither transparent nor clearly communicated, to remove manual actions applied against a site and return the website to its proper position in search results.”

“We commend the FTC for focusing on the important question of Big Tech companies use of 'opaque or unpredictable' internal procedures to restrict users’ access to services, often without any advance notice, leaving affected users with little ability to mitigate the related harm,” the Alliance says.