EU Investigates Google Over AI Overviews Misusing Publisher Content

A fresh antitrust complaint filed with the European Commission is putting Google’s AI Overviews under the legal microscope. The challenge, brought by the Independent Publishers Alliance, alleges that the tech giant is misusing web content—particularly from news and media publishers—by repurposing it in AI-generated summaries without permission and without offering any meaningful way to opt out.

Google’s AI Overviews, launched just over a year ago, generate concise answers to user queries at the top of search results. While the feature was initially criticized for accuracy issues, it has steadily expanded, becoming a prominent layer in how users consume information online.

According to the complaint, this convenience for users has come at a steep cost to publishers. The Alliance asserts that AI Overviews have led to substantial declines in site traffic, readership, and ad revenue. Worse still, publishers reportedly have no real recourse—opting out of being scraped for summaries would mean vanishing from search visibility altogether, an untenable position for most media outlets.

Google, for its part, defends the practice. In a statement to Reuters, the company claimed that AI enhancements help users explore topics more deeply, ultimately driving more engagement. It also noted that traffic fluctuations can result from many factors and that claims about traffic loss are often based on partial data.

Still, the complaint reflects rising tension between digital platforms and content creators. The lack of control over how proprietary material is reused, especially in algorithmically-generated products, raises fundamental questions about fair use, transparency, and monetization in the age of AI.

As the European Commission reviews the case, the outcome could have wide-reaching implications. At stake is not just Google’s feature set, but the very balance of power between platforms that distribute information and the publishers who create it.

What guardrails should exist to protect content ownership in an AI-driven search ecosystem—and who should enforce them?

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