Google Search
The largest designated search engine in the Union and one of the two VLOSEs named in the Commission’s first designation round.
- Tier
- VLOSE — very large online search engine
- Provider
- Google Ireland Ltd.
- Sector
- Search
- Designated
- 25 April 2023
- Obligations from
- 25 August 2023
- EU users at designation
- 364 million
- Formal proceedings
- None to date
Google Search was designated on 25 April 2023 in the Commission’s opening round, on a declared 364 million average monthly active recipients in the Union — the highest figure of any designated service in either tier.
As a VLOSE rather than a VLOP, Google Search carries the search-specific reading of the asymmetric duties: its systemic risk assessment under Article 34 covers the ranking and presentation of results, and its Article 38 obligation is satisfied by offering search that is not based on profiling.
Google publishes DSA transparency reports, an advertising repository, and a researcher data access route. No formal proceeding has been opened against Google Search to date.
What Google Search has to do
Designation applies the DSA's asymmetric obligations in Articles 33 to 43. They are the same for every designated service, read against a search and ranking surface.
- Article 34 Systemic risk assessment
- Article 35 Mitigation of risks
- Article 37 Independent audit
- Article 38 Recommender systems without profiling
- Article 39 Advertising repository
- Article 40 Data access for the Commission and vetted researchers
- Article 41 Internal compliance function
- Article 42 Transparency reporting
- Article 43 Supervisory fee