Why Google is facing an antitrust complaint in the EU
What's the story
Independent publishers have filed an antitrust complaint against Alphabet's Google in the European Union (EU). The complaint, seen by Reuters, alleges that Google's AI Overviews harm their traffic and revenue. It also claims that the tech giant uses their content without permission. The publishers are seeking an interim measure to prevent further damage from this practice.
Feature impact
A look at the AI Overviews feature
Google's AI Overviews are automated summaries that appear above regular links to relevant web pages. The feature is available in over 100 countries and has been monetized with ads since May last year. However, some content providers, including publishers, have expressed concerns over its impact on their traffic and revenue.
Complaint details
Complaint accuses Google of abusing market power
The complaint, filed by The Independent Publishers Alliance, accuses Google of abusing its market power in online search. It alleges that the company's core search engine service is misusing web content for AI Overviews in Google Search. This practice has allegedly caused significant harm to publishers, including news publishers, in terms of traffic, readership and revenue loss.
Allegations
Publishers claim they don't have an option to opt out
The complaint also alleges that Google places its AI Overviews at the top of its general search engine results page. This is done to display its own summaries generated using publisher material, which allegedly disadvantages publishers' original content. The publishers also claim they do not have an option to opt out from their material being used for Google's AI model training or crawled for summaries, without losing visibility in Google's search results page.
Company stance
Here's what Google has to say
Responding to the allegations, a Google spokesperson said that the company sends billions of clicks to websites every day. They added that new AI experiences in Search allow users to ask more questions, generating new opportunities for content and businesses. However, they also acknowledged that many claims about traffic from search are often based on incomplete and skewed data.