In an effort to improve the reliability of the results it returns, Google is experimenting with displaying a Twitter-like blue tick next to company websites has determined are genuine. A sound idea in theory, although it remains to be seen if the full implicattions of this have been considered.
In terms of trying to combat fake or fradulent websites that aim to confuse users into thinking they're the real thing, this indicator will be very useful. If the real Microsoft or Apple site has a blue tick next to it, that will help users click through with confidence.
However, things will get trickier. If they're not careful, one of two problems might occur here. It is currently unclear what process Google is using to determine whether a website is "genuine". If this is an automated process that anyone can set up at the website provider end, it may be very easy to game the system. If every site then has a blue tick (or even worse, the real one doesn't but a fake one does), you're back to square one.
Conversely, if this is a manual process like verification on Twitter was before Musk took over, even Google doesn't have the resources to manage this for everyone that might think they warrant one of these ticks. Therefore the contentious question will be where the cutoff on how big a company has to be to get a tick. Will users start to favour companies with the ticks even though smaller "genuine" companies don't have them?
It should be noted that this is currently an "experiment" at the Google end. Only selected users will be seeing this change, and Google will be assessing what impact it has. Plenty of their experiments are abandoned before being rolled out more widely. However, if they do fully adopt it, this seemingly small change may have big implications in the long run.