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By Muvija M and Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) -Google could be forced to change its search operations in the UK after it became the first company subject to new powers from Britain's competition regulator to tackle the dominance of Big Tech. Competition regulators have long had Alphabet-owned Google in their sights and Britain's landmark ruling on Friday designating Google as having strategic market status in online search, gives the UK's regulator more power to step in. "We have found that Google maintains a strategic position in the search and search advertising sector – with more than 90% of searches in the UK taking place on its platform," the Competition and Markets Authority's Executive Director for Digital Markets Will Hayter said. POSSIBLE INTERVENTIONS The CMA's move enables it to intervene to ensure Google's search services are "open to effective competition". It is not a finding of wrongdoing and does not trigger any immediate changes, but the regulator can impose fines for non-compliance and has direct enforcement powers. It outlined changes it could require in June, such as fairer ranking in search, easier access to alternative search engines for consumers and more controls for publishers over how their content is used in AI-generated responses. It is expected to consult on any planned interventions later this year. Google's Senior Director for Competition Oliver Bethell said: "Many of the ideas for interventions that have been raised in this process would inhibit UK innovation and growth, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-based innovation." Google announced last month it would invest 5 billion pounds ($6.65 billion) in Britain. NEW FRONT AGAINST GOOGLE The ruling was the CMA's first under new powers to tackle Big Tech. The CMA's second probe into mobile operating systems could also result in Google receiving a designation, focused on Android. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into Google and Amazon's search advertising last month, while the U.S. Department of Justice wants to force Google to sell off some of its advertising technology tools. The European Union hit Google with a $3.45 billion antitrust fine last month for anti-competitive practices in its adtech business. MORE CONTROL FOR CONSUMERS AND PUBLISHERS A shift in the political backdrop in Britain makes major intervention less likely, lawyers have said. After the CMA gained its new powers, the government told it to focus on growth and minimise uncertainty for business. It made former Amazon executive Doug Gurr the CMA's interim chair in January. Tom Smith, competition lawyer at Geradin Partners and former CMA director, said there was a strong case for removing some of the market distortions caused by Google's monopoly position. That includes giving website operators more control over how their content is used for AI training, and would remove some of Google's unfair advantage over other AI companies, he said. Google's Gemini AI assistant was not currently in the scope of the CMA's designation, the regulator said, but other AI-based search features, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, were. ($1 = 0.7523 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle and Muvija M; Editing by William James, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Elaine Hardcastle)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Barbara Erling WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland's critical infrastructure has been subject to a growing number of cyberattacks by Russia, whose military intelligence, has trebled its resources for such action against Poland this year, the country's digital affairs minister told Reuters. Of the 170,000 cyber incidents that have been identified in the first three quarters of this year, a significant portion has been attributed to Russian actors, while other cases are financially motivated, involving theft or other forms of cybercrime, Krzysztof  Gawkowski said. He said Poland is a subject to between 2,000 and 4,000 incidents a day and that 700 to 1,000 are "taken up by us, meaning they posed a real threat or had the potential to cause serious problems", he said. Foreign adversaries are now expanding their focus beyond water and sewage systems to the energy sector, he said. He did not give exact figures for Russian activity and could not comment on Russia's methods in Poland's cyberspace. The information on Russia's increasing involvement had come from intelligence from Poland's intelligence agencies. Russia has consistently denied claims of such activity. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately return a request for comment. Officials in Warsaw have said Poland, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, is Russia's main target among NATO states and has accused the Kremlin of repeated efforts to undermine national security.  "Russian activity is the most severe because it targets critical infrastructure essential to maintaining normal life," Gawkowski said.  Along with the Russian drone attack on September 10, there was a correlated cyberattack on Poland, the largest since 2022, when the war broke out in Ukraine, he said.  Although the government saw from the early hours of the night that the drone attack was coming from Russia, false claims that Ukraine sent the drones to start war, flooded Polish cyberspace, Gawkowski said. He added that to do this, bots that had remained dormant for months, even years were reactivated. (Reporting by Barbara Erling)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Muvija M and Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) -Google could be forced to change its search operations in the UK after it became the first company subject to new powers from Britain's competition regulator to tackle the dominance of Big Tech. Competition regulators have long had Alphabet-owned Google in their sights and Britain's landmark ruling on Friday designating Google as having strategic market status in online search, gives the UK's regulator more power to step in. "We have found that Google maintains a strategic position in the search and search advertising sector – with more than 90% of searches in the UK taking place on its platform," the Competition and Markets Authority's Executive Director for Digital Markets Will Hayter said. POSSIBLE INTERVENTIONS The CMA's move enables it to intervene to ensure Google's search services are "open to effective competition". It is not a finding of wrongdoing and does not trigger any immediate changes, but the regulator can impose fines for non-compliance and has direct enforcement powers. It outlined changes it could require in June, such as fairer ranking in search, easier access to alternative search engines for consumers and more controls for publishers over how their content is used in AI-generated responses. It is expected to consult on any planned interventions later this year. Google's Senior Director for Competition Oliver Bethell said: "Many of the ideas for interventions that have been raised in this process would inhibit UK innovation and growth, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-based innovation." Google announced last month it would invest 5 billion pounds ($6.65 billion) in Britain. NEW FRONT AGAINST GOOGLE The ruling was the CMA's first under new powers to tackle Big Tech. The CMA's second probe into mobile operating systems could also result in Google receiving a designation, focused on Android. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into Google and Amazon's search advertising last month, while the U.S. Department of Justice wants to force Google to sell off some of its advertising technology tools. The European Union hit Google with a $3.45 billion antitrust fine last month for anti-competitive practices in its adtech business. MORE CONTROL FOR CONSUMERS AND PUBLISHERS A shift in the political backdrop in Britain makes major intervention less likely, lawyers have said. After the CMA gained its new powers, the government told it to focus on growth and minimise uncertainty for business. It made former Amazon executive Doug Gurr the CMA's interim chair in January. Tom Smith, competition lawyer at Geradin Partners and former CMA director, said there was a strong case for removing some of the market distortions caused by Google's monopoly position. That includes giving website operators more control over how their content is used for AI training, and would remove some of Google's unfair advantage over other AI companies, he said. Google's Gemini AI assistant was not currently in the scope of the CMA's designation, the regulator said, but other AI-based search features, such as AI Overviews and AI Mode, were. ($1 = 0.7523 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle and Muvija M; Editing by William James, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Elaine Hardcastle)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)