Introduction to the Antitrust Complaint

A group known as the Independent Publishers Alliance has filed a complaint with the European Commission against Google. The complaint is about Google’s AI Overviews, which are summaries generated by artificial intelligence that appear at the top of some search results.

The Complaint’s Allegations

The Independent Publishers Alliance accuses Google of misusing web content for its AI Overviews. This, they claim, has caused significant harm to publishers, including news publishers. The harm comes in the form of lost traffic, readership, and revenue. The alliance argues that Google’s AI Overviews are using content from publishers without their consent, and without providing them with any compensation.

The Issue of Opting Out

One of the main issues raised by the complaint is that publishers do not have the option to opt out of having their material used in AI summaries. Unless they are willing to disappear from Google search results entirely, their content can be used by Google’s AI Overviews. This means that publishers have no control over how their content is used, and they do not receive any benefit from it.

The Impact of AI Overviews

It has been over a year since Google introduced AI-generated summaries at the top of some search results. Despite some initial mistakes, the feature has continued to expand. However, it has reportedly caused major traffic declines for news publishers. This is a significant issue, as many news publishers rely on traffic from Google to survive.

Google’s Response

Google has responded to the complaint by saying that its new AI experiences in Search enable people to ask more questions, which creates new opportunities for content and businesses to be discovered. The company also argues that claims about web traffic are often based on incomplete data, and that sites can gain and lose traffic for a variety of reasons. However, this response does not address the main issue raised by the complaint, which is that publishers do not have control over how their content is used.

Conclusion

The complaint filed by the Independent Publishers Alliance highlights the issues with Google’s AI Overviews. The fact that publishers do not have the option to opt out of having their material used in AI summaries is a significant problem. It is important that Google addresses this issue and provides publishers with more control over how their content is used. Otherwise, the harm caused to publishers will continue, and the diversity of online content may be threatened.