The EU has launched an antitrust probe into Google, focusing on its AI Overviews and YouTube services
The EU has opened an antitrust probe into Google’s use of publishers’ online content and YouTube videos to train its AI models.
The European Commission’s second investigation into Google in less than a month underscores growing concerns about Big Tech’s dominance in new technologies that could shut out rivals but could also heighten tensions with the United States, as EU laws adopted in the past few years have become a sore point in relations with Washington.
The EU competition enforcer said it was concerned that Google could use publishers’ online content for its AI-generated summaries, known as AI overviews, without adequately compensating them and without giving them the option to opt out.
It expressed similar concerns about Google’s use of YouTube videos uploaded by its users.
“Google may be abusing its dominant position as a search engine to impose unfair trading conditions on publishers in order to use their online content to provide its own AI-powered services,” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said on Tuesday.
“A healthy information ecosystem depends on publishers having the resources to produce quality content. We will not allow gatekeepers to dictate those choices,” she added.
Google rejected a complaint from independent publishers in July that led to the EU investigation. “This complaint risks stifling innovation in an increasingly competitive market,” a Google spokesman said.
“Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies, and we will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition into the AI era.”
The Independent Publishers Alliance, the Movement for an Open Web, whose members include digital advertisers and publishers, and the British non-profit organization Foxglove criticized Google.
“Google has broken the bargain that underpins the internet. The bargain was that websites would be indexed, retrieved, and shown when relevant to a query. Everyone had a chance,” said Tim Cowen, a lawyer advising the groups.
Coven said, “Now it’s putting its AI Overviews, Gemini, first and adding insult to injury by using website content to train Gemini. Gemini is the evil twin of search.”
AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear above the traditional hyperlinks of relevant web pages and are shown to users in more than 100 countries. Google began adding ads to AI Overviews last May.
Google’s spam policies are also under scrutiny from the EU following complaints from publishers. If the company is found guilty of violating EU antitrust rules, it could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue.
Last week, the European Commission launched an investigation into Meta’s plans to block AI competitors from its WhatsApp messaging system, signaling a growing wave of regulatory scrutiny.
