Tensions between technology platforms and news publishers have escalated in Europe after a formal complaint was filed against Google regarding its AI-generated summaries.
The European Publishers Council (EPC) on Tuesday lodged an antitrust complaint with the European Union over Google’s AI Overviews feature. The complaint could strengthen an ongoing EU investigation into the company’s practices.
Publishers and rival firms have expressed concern that major technology companies may use their dominance in emerging AI technologies to limit competition. News publishers have also criticised the use of their content in AI tools without compensation.
“It is about stopping a dominant gatekeeper from using its market power to take publishers’ content without consent, without fair compensation, and without giving publishers any realistic way to protect their journalism,” EPC chairman Christian Van Thillo said in a statement. “AI Overviews and AI Mode fundamentally undermine the economic compact that has sustained the open web,” he added.
Google rejected the allegations. “These inaccurate claims are an attempt to hold back helpful new AI features that Europeans want. We design our AI features to surface great content across the web and we provide easy-to-use controls for them to manage their content,” a company spokesperson said.
The company stated it is reviewing technical controls that would allow websites to opt out of generative AI features in search. However, publishers argue that such options do not offer meaningful protection, as opting out could reduce their visibility in search results.
The EPC claimed that Google is leveraging its control over online search to access publisher content without payment. This echoes broader concerns raised by EU regulators.
In December, the European Commission launched an investigation, stating that Google may be abusing its market power as a search engine by imposing unfair trading conditions on publishers.
The case adds fresh pressure on the tech giant as regulators examine the balance between innovation and fair competition in the AI-driven digital economy.
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