A coalition of media and advocacy groups has filed an antitrust complaint before the European Commission on 4 July 2025. It accuses Google of undermining digital publishing through its AI Overviews feature. This case raises pressing questions about fair competition, content usage rights, and the future viability of independent publishing within the rapidly evolving digital information economy and amid the popularity of generative AI applications.
The complaint, submitted by the Independent Publishers Alliance alongside Foxglove Legal and the Movement for an Open Web, targets the generative search summaries on Google Search. These appear at the top of search results and often answer user queries directly. The groups allege that Google unfairly extracts and displays reworded content scraped from websites without proper consent or compensation, and also penalizes those who opt out.
Analytics firm SimilarWeb explained that the impact on news website traffic has been immediate and widespread. 37 out of the top 50 news outlets in the United States have experienced a significant decrease in their respective web traffic or user visits since the AI Overviews feature was introduced in May 2024. The zero-click searches—or those in which users obtain information without clicking an external link—have increased to 69 percent as of May 2025.
The coalition argues that these developments threaten the financial sustainability of independent journalism. They are urging the European Commission to impose interim measures to prevent further damage. Their proposed remedies include stricter rules on how technology platforms may use third-party content in artificial intelligence products and clearer mechanisms for publishers and news outlets to refuse content usage without algorithmic penalties.
Google has argued against the assertions in the complaint in a statement. It explained that the AI feature on its Google Search product enhances the search experience by encouraging deeper user engagement and question exploration. The tech giant also maintains that it continues to drive billions of clicks to publishers every day and that traffic fluctuations result from a complex mix of factors that should not be blamed on its AI Overviews feature.
This regulatory complaint aligns with broader scrutiny under the Digital Markets Act. This law identified Google as a gatekeeper platform. It specifically enforces strict antitrust compliance for major technology firms operating in the European Union. Violations may result in fines of up to 10 percent of the global revenue of the company. This signals potentially severe consequences if the European Commission finds the practices of Google unlawful.
Similar concerns are emerging in the United States. Lawsuits, such as the one filed by educational company Chegg, accuse generative AI applications or products like Gemini from Google and ChatGPT from OpenAI of harming their visibility and revenue not only by allegedly stealing their content but also by diverting traffic. These cases reflect mounting global pressure on dominant tech companies to adopt ethical, transparent, and competitive AI practices.
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