Have you noticed it? Google Maps no longer appears in the Google search function.
When you search for, say, a restaurant on Google, you’re probably used to seeing a small map that you can click on to access Google Maps. But this is no longer the case if you search on your computer. Now the map is just a small square in the upper right corner, which is also not clickable. The tab, which was previously at the top among the search results, has also been removed.
The reason is a new EU regulation. It’s called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and affects what big tech companies are allowed to do. The DMA regulates many things, but what specifically affects Google Maps is competition regulation.
The Google search engine and the Google Maps map function are indeed two different services. Since Google is one of the most used search engines, Google Maps has been given a shortcut by always being included in search results. And that allowed Google Maps to become very popular, only partly because Google Search was popular.
When the DMA came into effect, Google made a blog post about what this new regulation changed, but did not mention the disappearance of Google Maps. However, the company confirmed this change in a response to a user on X (ex-Twitter). If a company like Alphabet, Google’s parent company, violates the DMA rule, it faces hefty fines. Ten percent of total turnover the first time, 20 percent in the event of a repeat.
Google’s worldwide turnover reaches 300 billion dollars. If we compare it to the GDP (the wealth produced in one year) of the countries of the world, this makes it the 44th country in the world. Google notably generates more turnover than Romania and the Czech Republic generate wealth in a year. This makes the company a behemoth which, if not regulated, could distort the rules of competition. It is the aim of the DMA to avoid these problems and this European regulation also applies to Facebook for example.