Googles AI Overviews Hit by EU Antitrust Complaint From Independent Publishers
Google’s AI Overviews are under fire. Independent publishers have filed an EU antitrust complaint, alleging irreparable harm and demanding immediate action to halt the service’s rollout. Reuters obtained the document exposing this escalating battle.
Forget endless scrolling! Google’s AI Overviews, now live in over 100 countries, deliver AI-powered summariesabovethe usual search links, offering instant answers. And, starting last May, even these AI-generated insights began incorporating ads, blending information with opportunity.
Search gets an AI brain boost, but publishers are feeling the pinch as the company stakes its future on this bold, yet controversial, integration.
Google faces a formal complaint to the European Commission, filed by the Independent Publishers Alliance. The charge? Abuse of its dominance in online search, a move outlined in a document dated June 30th that could reshape the digital landscape for independent publishers.
Google’s AI Overviews are cannibalizing the web. Publishers are screaming foul, claiming Google is pilfering their content for its AI summaries, bleeding them dry of traffic, readership, and ultimately, revenue. The search giant’s AI ambition is built on the backs of those it once served.
Google’s AI Overviews now dominate search results, pushing publisher content further down the page. These AI-generated summaries, built on publisher material, threaten to bury the original sources they rely on.
Google’s AI ambitions are forcing publishers into a Faustian bargain: surrender content for AI training and summaries, or vanish from Google Search altogether.
The Commission declined to comment.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority confirmed receipt of the complaint.
Google said it sends billions of clicks to websites each day.
“Google’s AI-powered Search is opening doors. Now, users can ask deeper questions, unlocking unprecedented opportunities for content creators and businesses to shine,” a Google representative announced.
The Independent Publishers Alliance’s website says it is a nonprofit community advocating for independent publishers, which it does not name.
A coalition fighting for a fairer internet, including digital advertisers, publishers, and the British non-profit Foxglove – champions of tech justice – has formally lodged a complaint.
They said an interim measure was necessary to prevent serious irreparable harm to competition and to ensure access to news.
Google said numerous claims about traffic from search are often based on highly incomplete and skewed data.
“Web traffic ebbs and flows like the tide,” a Google insider revealed. “Seasons shift, user tastes evolve, and search algorithms well, they’re always learning and adapting. It’s a dynamic landscape out there.”
Foxglove co-executive director Rosa Curling said journalists and publishers face a dire situation.
“Independent news faces an existential threat: Google’s AI Overviews,” she told Reuters.
Curling concluded, “Therefore, Foxglove, alongside our allies, is challenging global regulators, including the European Commission, to champion independent journalism’s right to disconnect from surveillance.”
The three groups have filed a similar complaint and a request for an interim measure to the UK competition authority.
Google’s AI Overviews are facing a chorus of complaints, mirroring a US edtech company’s lawsuit. The claim? Google’s AI summaries are cannibalizing demand for original content, kneecapping publishers who are seeing visitor numbers and subscriptions plummet.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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