Google has been placed under investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to assess whether its search and advertising services deliver fair results within the UK.

In a statement today, the watchdog announced the launch of its first “strategic market status designation investigation” under a new Strategic Market Status (SMS) regime, which was rolled out on 1 January this year.

The investigation will assess how Google’s services impact consumers and businesses in the UK, including publishers, search engine competitors and advertisers.

Given the dominant position of Google’s search services in the UK, which account for over 90 per cent of the nation’s search enquiries, the CMA said ensuring its services are delivering for businesses and consumers was critical.

“Millions of people and businesses across the UK rely on Google’s search and advertising services – with 90 per cent of searches happening on their platform and more than 200,000 UK businesses advertising there,” said Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA.

“That’s why it’s so important to ensure these services are delivering good outcomes for people and businesses and that there is a level playing field, especially as AI has the potential to transform search services.”

The probe will look to ensure that people benefit from a variety of services and complete control over their own data, as well as prioritising innovative services and eliminating biased content, the CMA said.