The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is still analysing responses to its proposed user choice conduct requirement for Google search, which closed to comment on 9 October 2026, so the outcome remains pending.
The requirement is one of several the regulator is applying to Google after it designated the company with strategic market status (SMS) in general search and search advertising in October 2025.
SMS is the label the CMA gives a firm with substantial and entrenched market power and a position of strategic significance in a digital activity.
Will Hayter, Executive Director for Digital Markets at the CMA, said at the time of designation: “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 CMA’s consultation page, updated on 30 October 2026, carries the message that it is analysing feedback and that the outcome will be posted later. The consultation closed at 5pm on 9 October 2026.
On 3 June 2026 the CMA imposed its publisher conduct requirement on Google, and on 17 June 2026 it imposed fair ranking and data portability requirements.
The user choice requirement is aimed at how Google presents choices to consumers and how those choices influence decisions, which the CMA calls its “choice architecture”. The regulator first consulted on a version of it on 28 January 2026 as part of a wider package of conduct requirements.
It then considered the responses to that round, along with wider market trends, and on 23 September 2026 launched a further consultation on updated proposals.
The CMA also published qualitative research on consumer needs in relation to choice screens, which display options for the search services people use.
Once a firm has SMS, the CMA may impose tailored rules requiring it to take certain action or stop a specific activity. It may do so where this is proportionate to achieve outcomes for users: fair dealing, open choices, or trust and transparency.
In the latest round the CMA asked whether respondents agreed with the proposed changes and with its updated proportionality assessment for the requirement.
Designation itself is not a finding of wrongdoing and introduced no immediate requirements, the CMA said when it confirmed the status in October 2025.
The CMA’s consultation page lists about 30 published responses, including from search providers DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Qwant, Karma Search and Yahoo, and from Microsoft, OpenAI, Mozilla and Samsung.
Publishers and their trade bodies also responded. They include Guardian News & Media Limited, the News Media Association and the Professional Publishers Association.
A joint response came from Impress, the Independent Media Association, the Association of Online Publishers, the Independent Publishers Alliance and the Independent Community News Network.
Skyscanner and Trainline are also on the list of respondents.
The CMA’s October 2025 decision put AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode within scope, while Google’s Gemini AI assistant was left outside, a position the regulator said it would keep under review.
The designation followed an investigation launched on 14 January 2025 and feedback from more than 80 stakeholders after the proposed decision in June 2025.
The CMA has not given a date for the outcome of the user choice consultation.
