EU Publishers File Antitrust Complaint Against Google Over AI Overviews

A coalition of independent publishers, including the Independent Publishers Alliance and advocacy groups Foxglove and the Movement for an Open Web, has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Google, alleging that its AI Overviews feature harms publishers by using their content without effective opt-out options and by displacing original content in search results. These AI-generated summaries, which appear above traditional links and have been monetized with ads since May 2025, are accused of causing significant losses in traffic, readership, and revenue for publishers, posing what advocates describe as an "existential threat" to independent news. Publishers argue that they cannot prevent their content from being used for AI Overviews without also removing themselves from Google Search entirely, which would be devastating for their visibility and business. Google defends its AI Overviews as tools that create new opportunities for content discovery and drive billions of clicks to websites daily. Meanwhile, Google is also proposing to comply with the EU's Digital Markets Act by highlighting competitors' shopping and travel platforms at the top of its search results to avoid fines. The European Union is concurrently finalizing a voluntary AI Act compliance code to guide AI providers on transparency, copyright, and safety, amid significant lobbying from large tech firms.