Google AI Overviews Target Of Legal Complaints In The UK And EU via @sejournal, @martinibuster

The Movement For An Open Web and other organizations filed a legal challenge against Google, alleging harm to UK news publishers. The crux of the legal filing is the allegation that Google’s AI Overviews product is using news content as part of its summaries and for grounding AI answers, but not allowing publishers to opt out of that use without also opting out of appearing in search results.

The Movement For An Open Web (MOW) in the UK published details of a complaint to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA):

“Last week, the CMA announced plans to consult on how to make Google search fairer, including providing “more control and transparency for publishers over how their content collected for search is used, including in AI-generated responses.” However, the complaint from Foxglove, the Alliance and MOW warns that news organisations are already being harmed in the UK and action is needed immediately.

In particular, publishers urgently need the ability to opt out of Google’s AI summaries without being removed from search altogether. This is a measure that has already been proposed by other leading regulators, including the US Department of Justice and the South African Competition Commission. Foxglove is warning that without immediate action, the UK – and its news industry – risks being left behind, while other states take steps to protect independent news from Google.

Foxglove is therefore seeking interim measures to prevent Google misusing publisher content pending the outcome of the CMA’s more detailed review.”

Reuters is reporting on an EU antitrust complaint filed in Brussels seeking relief for the same thing:

“Google’s core search engine service is misusing web content for Google’s AI Overviews in Google Search, which have caused, and continue to cause, significant harm to publishers, including news publishers in the form of traffic, readership and revenue loss.”

Publishers And SEOs Critical Of AI Overviews

Google is under increasing criticism from the publisher and the SEO community for sending fewer clicks to users, although Google itself insists it is sending more traffic than ever. This may be one of those occasions where the phrase “let the judge decide” describes where this is all going, because there are no signs that Google is backing down from its decade-long trend of showing fewer links and more answers.

Featured Image by Shutterstock/nitpicker

SEJ STAFF Roger Montti Owner - Martinibuster.com at Martinibuster.com

I have 25 years hands-on experience in SEO, evolving along with the search engines by keeping up with the latest ...