Google Degrades European Search Results

Google plans to reformat Search for EU users to comply with the Digital Markets Act: it will promote third‑party vertical engines (like Expedia) near the top and remove some real‑time features (e.g., live prices) from hotel, airline and restaurant carousels. Google frames the change as compliance, while executives warn it will worsen the user experience and reduce direct traffic to local businesses. — This matters because it is a concrete case of regulatory rules producing immediate, measurable changes in platform behaviour that can shift who captures economic value (aggregators vs. local merchants) and who controls information visibility.