Google's controversial AI-generated summary has been criticized for crushing traffic on US news sites, but it elicited anti-trust complaints from the European Union from a group of independent publishers.
Complaints by the alliance of independent publishers accusing the Sundal Pichai-led big technology giant of abusing dominant positions in online searches by promoting unique AI-generated summaries over links to original content.
The filing filed on June 30th requires that the Commission impose interim measures to prevent what it describes as “irreparable harm.”
“Google's Core Search Engine Service misuses web content on Google's AI overview in Google's Google search, which has caused and continues to cause major harm to publishers, including news publishers, in the form of losses in traffic, readers and revenue,” the complaint alleges.
According to digital intelligence company SimaryWeb, the AI overview revealed that AI overview has been declining since its launch in May 2024, 37 of its 37 news domains compared to the previous year.
A report on SimaryWeb found that the AI summary significantly increased the frequency of “zero clicks” to search for queries.
The percentage of web searches related to news that end without clicking on news sites jumped to 69% in May 2025 from 56% in the same month last year, Sircorweb found.
A spokesman for the EU's anti-trust agency, Competition and Markets Bureau, confirmed in the post that it had received the complaint.
“Last week we proposed to designate Google with strategic market conditions in search ads and search ads. If specified, this will allow us to introduce measured targets to address certain aspects of how Google operates its search services in the UK,” the representative posted Friday.
The AI overview is a summary generated using Google's artificial intelligence models and appears at the top of the general search results. This feature is available in over 100 countries. Google began incorporating ads into AI overview this May.
Publishers argue that Google's practice of displaying its own summary on top of hyperlinks is making the original content worse for how it uses its material due to a lack of control publishers.
“Publishers that use Google Search do not have the option to opt out of material ingested for Google's AI leading language model training without losing their ability to appear on Google's general search results pages.
The open web movement, with members involving digital advertisers and publishers, and the UK nonprofit FoxGlove Legal Community Interest Company, are also signers of the complaint.
“In short, the AI overview is theft from the publishing industry,” Tim Cowen, co-founder of Open Web Movement, told the post.
“They steal publisher's content and use it to steal traffic before they reach their site. It's unfair and a clear violation of copyright principles.”
Cowen added, “We are making it possible to have the ability to opt out of content for an AI overview without fear of being punished in search results.”
“In the long term, we want to see a fair economic and regulatory model where publishers reward the value of their works,” he said.
The three organizations are calling for regulatory intervention to address what they call a urgent threat to competition and access to news.
Foxglove's co-executive director Rosa Curling said the outcome of the news publisher's AI overview is serious.
“Independent News Faces Existential Threats: An Overview of Google's AI,” said Rosa Curling, co-executive director of Foxglove.
“So this complaint has encouraged FoxGlove and our partners, together with other regulators around the world, to stand up to the European Commission and opt out of independent journalism.”
A Google spokesman defended the AI overview feature and challenged the characterization of its impact on publishers.
“The new AI experience in search allows people to ask more questions, which creates new opportunities for content and companies to be discovered,” a spokesman told Reuters.
Google added that the company sends billions of clicks to its website every day, with traffic fluctuations likely being influenced by many factors.
“The reality is that sites can capture and lose traffic for a variety of reasons, including seasonal demand, user benefits, and updating regular algorithms to search,” the spokesman said.
The EU complaint claim reflects similar arguments made in a lawsuit filed in the US, which argued that Google's AI overview erodes demand for the original content, undermines the publisher's competitiveness, and reduces both traffic and subscription.
Google has faced several antitrust investigations on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years.
The tech giant is suing a $4.7 billion fine imposed by the European Commission for allegedly abused its advantage in the Android operating system. Last month, an advisor to the EU's Supreme Court recommended that the fine be upheld.
The European Commission also continues its investigation into Google's actions in digital advertising and search, with further regulatory measures possible.
In the US, a federal judge ruled in August 2024 that Google violated the Antimonopoly Act by citing exclusive transactions with Apple by maintaining its monopoly in popular search and search ads.
A post-examination verdict for the Remedy phase (which could include Google's split) is expected next month.
In another ruling in April 2025, another judge found that Google illegally dominated the online advertising market by controlling both the buyers and sellers of the ad exchange.
With post wire
