Publishers Sue Google Over AI Overviews Traffic Loss

A coalition of independent publishers has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Alphabet’s Google is exploiting its dominant search position by utilizing their content to power its AI Overviews without providing an opt-out option. The publishers are seeking an interim injunction, asserting that continued use of their material in this manner would cause irreversible damage to their readership and revenues. This is not the first time Google has faced such allegations; earlier this year, the UK’s competition watchdog initiated an investigation into the search engine giant’s dominance in search and search advertising.

Google’s AI Overviews feature automatically generates summaries that appear above traditional search links and are displayed in over a hundred countries. Since May of last year, these summaries have included advertisements, marking Google’s most significant effort to integrate AI into its core search service. However, some content providers argue that this feature unfairly reduces traffic to their own sites. According to a June 30 filing, the Independent Publishers Alliance claims that Google’s practice “misuses web content for AI Overviews,” resulting in “significant harm to publishers, including losses in traffic, readership, and revenue.”

The publishers contend that the placement of AI summaries at the top of search results sidelines the original articles, effectively diverting users away from the publishers themselves. The complaint highlights that publishers have no way to prevent Google’s large language models from scraping their work. If they attempt to block crawling, they also forfeit their presence in ordinary search listings. The Alliance is supported by the Movement for an Open Web, a collective of digital advertisers and publishers, and the UK-based legal charity Foxglove, who are urging both Brussels and London’s Competition and Markets Authority to impose urgent restraints to prevent further damage and ensure access to news.

Google, on the other hand, maintains that its search engine drives “billions of clicks to websites each day” and that its new AI features help users find content and businesses. A spokesperson stated that “New AI experiences in Search enable people to ask even more questions, which creates new opportunities for content and businesses to be discovered.” Google also dismissed claims about declining traffic, attributing fluctuations to seasonality, changing user interests, or standard algorithm tweaks. “The reality is that sites can gain and lose traffic for a variety of reasons, including seasonal demand, interests of users, and regular algorithmic updates to Search,” said the spokesperson.

Foxglove co-executive director Rosa Curling warned that independent news outlets face an “existential threat” from AI Overviews. “That’s why we are urging regulators around the world to let journalism opt out,” Curling stated. Similar legal action has already been launched in the United States, where an educational technology firm argues that Google’s summaries undermine demand for original content, sapping visitor numbers and subscriber growth. As both sides prepare for what could become landmark antitrust determinations, it remains to be seen if Google can continue to bolster its AI-driven search innovations without trampling on the livelihoods of the very publishers whose content fuels its algorithms.