The deadline for compliance with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) is this Thursday and Google just released a document describes exactly what changes it has made (or will make) to comply with the law. These 20+ fixes vary in scope and affect search users, advertisers, and third-party app developers.
One of the big search changes will be the inclusion of price comparison results from external aggregators when searching for things like flights or hotels. For example, searching Google for a destination to Paris usually triggers a module called Google Flights—the company’s own internal price aggregator. Rival aggregators like Kayak and Tripadvisor resent Google stepping into their backyard. for more than ten years. Starting Thursday, at least in the EU, such results will now show some results from these aggregators alongside Google’s own Flight results.
Android users get an easier way to turn off the search engine or browser so that they don’t prioritize Google products over others. These are in the settings when you first set up the device and at various intervals during use. The company has already been doing this since 2021, but now there will be more option screens to choose from. Google says this option will come to desktop Chrome users and iOS users in the near future.
Digital consent for advertising is a key part of DMA. Now Google users will have to choose between the company’s various services to share information for the purpose of personalized advertising. This is done through the settings page. In addition, users may encounter consent banners when searching, which will ask them if they want to link data between Google services.
The DMA requires app stores to offer alternative billing systems for in-app purchases. To match, Google recently launched as an option for developers to offer their own billing systems. This program is expanding to game developers this week. Of course, Android devices have always been able to run third-party apps with their own billing systems, but now they’ll be easier to implement.
As part of DMA compliance, Google said it will begin providing advertisers with “certain additional information shared in a manner that protects user privacy and commercially sensitive customer information.” We’ve reached out to the company for any information on what that data might be. On Thursday, the company will also launch a Data Portability API so that users can more easily move their data across Google products.
Of course, Google couldn’t help but throw some shade in the compatibility announcement, telling users that “some of the features we developed to help people get things done online quickly and safely — making recommendations on different products — won out. You will never work the same way again.” Daddy corporation knows best.
