It is not the first time that Google finds itself in trouble in Europe, this time it concerns its AI overviews in search. With the European Commission the Independent Publishers Alliance has presented an official antitrust complaint detailing how the tech giant is leaving publishers damaged due to the lack of fair choice and advantage in utilizing their content. Although they are created to provide the user with a rapid response the publishers believe that these summaries steal traffic from their websites. In case users satisfy their informational wants by accessing it through Google, why would they head on to the source when they can get the information they want through Google?
The complaint states that it is particularly unfair since publishers actually cannot opt-out. They cannot do anything to object to their content being used by these summaries except disappearing from the Google search results completely, an action that would terminate its awareness and income. According to the Alliance this is not a genuine choice. They claim that they are losing their readers, page impressions, and general revenue because Google is using their content. To answer that Google states that their AI features can be helpful. These new tools according to the company will allow the users to ask more questions and search for more content and this will result in new means of how websites can be sought. Google also argues that traffic figures keep changing time and time again due to many factors. Therefore, publishers might be presenting half-baked information to support their case.
It can be said, though the timing is tough. Most of the publishers are now grappling to retain readers and make profits on the internet. That may add pressure to their traffic being cut by the Google AI Overview. An even greater question on fairness in AI is brought to the case as well with the question being whether tech companies should have the right to use content provided by some other person to drive their tools without any agreement or compensation. This complaint can encourage the EU to take a second glance at the influence of AI tools on online content, competition, and creators. For Google, this may just be another step in a years-long process of battling European regulators who are following it step-by-step.
A group known as the Independent Publishers Alliance has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission over Google’s AI Overviews, according to Reuters.