EU Opens Major Antitrust Probe Into Google Over AI Overviews And YouTube Content

Brussels — The European Commission has opened a second antitrust investigation into Alphabet's Google, examining whether the company used publishers' online content and YouTube videos to train its artificial intelligence models and power its AI-generated summaries known as AI Overviews.

What the Commission Is Investigating

The regulator is probing whether Google: (1) used publishers' web content to create AI Overviews without adequately compensating them or offering an opt-out; and (2) used videos uploaded by YouTube users in ways that could disadvantage rivals or amount to unfair trading conditions.

"Google may be abusing its dominant position as a search engine to impose unfair trading conditions on publishers by using their online content to provide its own AI-powered services," said EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

Responses And Reactions

Google rejected the complaint lodged by independent publishers in July that triggered the probe. A company spokesperson said: "This complaint risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever. Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies and we will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition to the AI era."

Groups including the Independent Publishers Alliance, the Movement for an Open Web and the British non-profit Foxglove have criticised Google's approach. Their adviser, lawyer Tim Cowen, said Google had "broken the bargain that underpins the internet," arguing that AI features now displace the prior arrangement where websites were indexed and shown directly in search results.

AI Overviews are algorithmically generated summaries that appear above traditional links to relevant webpages and are shown to users in more than 100 countries. Google began running advertisements in AI Overviews in May.

Regulatory Context And Potential Penalties

The Commission is also reviewing Google's spam policy following a related inquiry prompted by publishers. If the probe concludes Google breached EU antitrust rules, the company could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue. Regulators' scrutiny of major technology platforms is intensifying: the Commission recently opened a separate investigation into Meta's plans to limit AI rivals' access to WhatsApp.

The inquiry underscores growing European concern about how dominant platforms use third-party content to develop AI products and whether existing business models fairly compensate content creators and preserve competition.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee and Louise Breusch Rasmussen; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Sharon Singleton and Alexander Smith)