Google has been hit with a formal antitrust complaint in the European Union over its use of AI Overviews in search results. The complaint, filed by the Independent Publishers Alliance, alleges that Google’s AI-generated summaries are causing irreparable harm to publishers by diverting traffic, readership, and revenue away from their original content.
The complaint also calls for interim measures from the European Commission to prevent further damage while the investigation unfolds.
What Are Google’s AI Overviews?
AI Overviews are AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of Google’s search results—above traditional hyperlinks—and provide quick answers based on web content. The feature is currently live in over 100 countries, and in May 2025, Google began incorporating ads into AI Overviews, further monetizing the format.
While Google touts the feature as a way to enhance the search experience, many publishers argue that AI Overviews repurpose their content without compensation and discourage users from clicking through to sources.
Publishers Allege Market Abuse and Loss of Revenue
According to the Independent Publishers Alliance, the AI Overviews feature constitutes an abuse of Google’s dominant position in search. In a document dated June 30, the alliance accused Google of using publisher content to train its large language models (LLMs) and then displaying that content at the top of search results, without offering publishers the ability to opt out without being removed from search entirely. “Google’s core search engine service is misusing web content for Google’s AI Overviews in Search,” the complaint reads. “This has caused, and continues to cause, significant harm to publishers in the form of traffic, readership, and revenue loss.”
The group contends that publishers are being disadvantaged by the positioning of AI Overviews, which are generated using their material but prioritised over their original content in Google’s search results.
No Opt-Out Option Without Penalty, Publishers Say
A key claim in the complaint is that publishers cannot opt out of having their content used to generate AI Overviews without suffering major visibility losses. According to the complaint: “Publishers using Google Search do not have the option to opt out from their material being ingested for Google’s AI large language model training and/or from being crawled for summaries, without losing their ability to appear in Google’s general search results page.”
This situation, the alliance argues, gives Google unfair control over how publisher content is used and displayed.
EU and UK Regulators Aware of the Complaint
While the European Commission declined to comment on the issue, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed it has received the complaint, signalling growing international attention to the issue.
Google Responds: AI Search Brings More Opportunities
In a statement, Google defended its AI Overviews, claiming the tool benefits users and publishers alike: “New AI experiences in Search enable people to ask even more questions, which creates new opportunities for content and businesses to be discovered,” said a Google spokesperson.
“We send billions of clicks to websites each day.”
Google maintains that its AI-powered search tools are designed to drive traffic and support the open web.
Conclusion
As Google’s AI integration into Search becomes more prominent, concerns are growing among publishers and regulators over how AI-generated content is created, displayed, and monetized. The EU antitrust complaint over AI Overviews may prove to be a pivotal moment in the debate around AI in search engines, content ownership, and the future of online publishing.
