Google AI Faces Legal Complaints in UK and EU
▼ Summary
– The Movement For An Open Web and other groups filed a legal challenge against Google, accusing it of harming UK news publishers by using their content in AI Overviews without allowing opt-outs.
– The complaint urges the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to act immediately, as publishers need to opt out of AI summaries without losing search visibility.
– Foxglove warns that without prompt action, the UK risks falling behind other countries already taking steps to protect news publishers from Google’s practices.
– An EU antitrust complaint in Brussels alleges Google’s AI Overviews misuse web content, causing traffic and revenue losses for publishers.
– Google faces growing criticism from publishers and SEOs for reducing clicks to websites, despite claiming to drive more traffic overall.
Google’s AI Overviews feature has sparked legal action in both the UK and EU, with publishers alleging unfair use of their content without proper compensation or opt-out options. The controversy centers on claims that Google’s AI-generated summaries leverage news articles to ground responses while denying publishers the ability to exclude their material from AI processing without also disappearing from traditional search results.
In the UK, The Movement For An Open Web (MOW) joined forces with advocacy groups Foxglove and the Alliance to file a complaint with the Competition and Markets Authority. Their submission argues that news organizations face immediate harm unless regulators intervene. The groups highlight how publishers currently lack meaningful control, they can’t prevent Google’s AI from repurposing their journalism unless they completely withdraw from search listings, an untenable choice for most media outlets.
The complaint emphasizes that delaying action could leave British publishers at a disadvantage, noting that other jurisdictions like the United States and South Africa are already exploring protective measures. MOW is pushing for temporary restrictions on Google’s content usage while the CMA conducts its broader review of search market fairness.
Across the Channel, similar concerns have reached EU antitrust regulators. A formal complaint filed in Brussels accuses Google of systematically exploiting web content through AI Overviews, directly impacting publisher revenues by diverting traffic away from original sources. The filing mirrors growing frustration among media companies who see their carefully researched articles transformed into bite-sized AI answers that satisfy user queries without driving visits to their websites.
The backlash extends beyond legal circles. Search optimization professionals and digital publishers report dwindling referral traffic, contradicting Google’s assertions about increased website visits. Many industry observers believe this dispute will ultimately require judicial resolution, given Google’s historical pattern of prioritizing direct answers over external links. As the cases progress, they could set important precedents for how AI systems interact with copyrighted material in search environments.
Featured Image by Shutterstock/nitpicker
(Source: Search Engine Journal)
