Google has warned the UK against imposing "onerous" and costly regulations after the competition watchdog ruled it had "strategic market status" for its search services.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said legal tests had been met to designate Google with the status in general search and search advertising services due to "substantial and entrenched market power", with more than 90% of searches in the UK taking place on its platform.

The designation gives the CMA greater control on how Google operates its UK services.

The regulator said the Alphabet-owned firm's Gemini AI assistant was not in the scope of the designation but other AI functionality, including AI Overviews, were.

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