The controversial controversial summaries of Google – which were blamed for having crushed the traffic of American information sites – have drawn an Antitrust complaint in the European Union a group of independent publishers.
The complaint of the independent alliance of publishers accuses the great giant of technology led by Sundar Pichai of having abused his dominant position In online research by promoting its own summaries generated by AI on links to original content.
The deposit, submitted on June 30, requests that the European Commission imposes provisional measures to prevent what it describes as “irreparable damage” to publishers.
“Google’s basic search engine service uses web content for Google AI’s previews in Google Search, which have caused, and continue to cause new damage to publishers, including news publishers in the form of traffic, reading and loss of income”, ” The complaint alleys.
The complaint comes while overwhelming data has revealed that IA previews have resulted in 37 of the 50 best American information areas suffering from a drop in traffic from one year to the next since its launch in May 2024, according to the similar digital intelligence company.
A similar report also revealed that AI summaries have led to a significant increase in the frequency of “zero clicks” to search for requests.
The percentage of web research linked to the news that ends without a click on a news site rose to 69% in May 2025, going from 56% for the same month of last year, revealed similar.
A spokesperson for the competition and authority markets, the EU antitrust agency, confirmed to the post that he had received the complaint.
“Last week, we proposed to appoint Google with a strategic market status in research and research advertising. If it is designated, this would allow us to introduce targeted targeted to respond to the specific aspects of the way Google exploits research services in the United Kingdom,” the representative said on Friday.
AI’s overviews are summaries generated using Google artificial intelligence models and are displayed at the top of the general research results. The functionality is available in more than 100 countries. Google began to incorporate advertisements into the IA previews last May.
Publishers allege that Google’s practice aimed at displaying its own summaries above the disadvantaged hyperlinks the original content and is aggravated by the lack of control of publishers on how their equipment is used.
“The publishers using Google Search cannot withdraw from their equipment ingested for training on the model of large language of Google and / or to be crawled for summaries, without losing their ability to appear in the Google General Results page,” said the complaint.
The movement for an open web, whose members include advertisers and digital publishers, and the British non -profit company of the Foxglove legal community are also signatory to the complaint.
“In short, IA’s overviews are thefts of the publishing industry,” said Tim Cowen, co-founder of Movement for A Open Web, at Post.
“They steal the content of the publishers, then use it to steal their traffic before it reaches their site. It is unfair and a clear violation of the principles of copyright. ”
Cowen added that he wanted the publishers “to have the ability to withdraw from their harvested content for AI insightless people without fear of being punished in the research results”.
“In the longer term, we want to see a fair economic and regulatory model that rewards publishers for the value of their works,” he said.
The three organizations are looking for a regulatory intervention to respond to what they say to be an urgent threat to competition and access to news.
Foxglove co-director Rosa Curling said that the consequences of AI for news for news publishers were serious.
“The independent news is faced with an existential threat: the previews of Google AI,” said the co-director of Foxglove, executive director Rosa Curling.
“This is why with this complaint, Foxglove and our partners urge the European Commission, as well as other regulators from around the world, to take a stand and to allow independent journalism to withdraw.”
A Google spokesperson defended the functionality of AI and challenged the characterization of its impact on publishers.
“New experiences of AI in research allow people to ask even more questions, which creates new opportunities for content and businesses to discover,” the spokesman told Reuters.
Google added that the company sends billions of clicks to websites every day and that traffic fluctuations can be influenced by many factors.
“The reality is that sites can gain and lose traffic for various reasons, including seasonal demand, user interests and regular algorithmic updates to search,” said the spokesperson.
Complaints from the EU complaint echoes a similar argument in a trial brought in the United States by an education technology company, which alleges that the previews of Google AI eroded the demand for original content and damage the competitive capacity of publishers, resulting in a drop in traffic and sub-conceptions.
Google has faced several antitrust surveys on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in recent years.
The technology giant Call on a fine of $ 4.7 billion inflicted by the European Commission For having pretended to be abused with its domination with the Android operating system. Last month, An EU EU Court Councilor recommended to be maintained.
The European Commission also pursues surveys on Google Driving in digital advertising and researchwith additional regulatory action potential.
In the United States, a federal judge judged in August 2024 that Google had violated the antitrust law by Maintain monopolies in general research and research advertisingCiting exclusive offers such as those with Apple.
A verdict after a test on the remedy phase – which could include the rupture of Google – is expected next month.
In a separate decision in April 2025, another judge found Google had illegally monopolized online advertising markets by controlling both the purchase and sale sides of the advertising exchange.
With postal wires
