In the rapidly growing landscape of generative AI, Google’s introduction of AI Overviews—automated summaries prominently shown at the top of search results- has ignited a substantial controversy across Europe. At the same time, the technology giant allows this feature to enhance search utility for journalists and digital liberties advocates. Moreover, it may lead to raising serious concerns about its far-reaching implications for content ownership, market competition, and much more. For this purpose, Google is now encountering legal challenges in both the United Kingdom and the European Union, as regulatory bodies and publicizing entities dispute the lawfulness and equity of this notable alteration in how digital information is presented and monetized.
In this blog, we will explore the growing legal challenges facing Google’s AI Overviews in the UK and EU, and what they mean for publishers and digital rights.
What Are Google AI Overviews?
Google’s AI Overviews, previously known as “Search Generative Experience,” represent the company’s initiative to integrate generative artificial intelligence into its Search platform. In addition, Google often replaces conventional search links with AI-generated summaries that directly answer users’ queries using information collected from various websites.
These summaries typically:
- First, it includes fewer links compared to traditional search results.
- In addition, they are positioned above standard organic search listings.
- They are increasingly being monetized through integrated advertisements.
- Extract content from third-party websites without offering direct compensation or obtaining prior consent.
The Legal Complaints:
🇪🇺 EU Complaint – Independent Publishers Alliance
In late June 2025, the Independent Publishers Alliance formally lodged an antitrust objection with the European Commission. Moreover, supported by organizations such as Foxglove and the Movement for an Open Web, the complaint alleges that Google is engaging in:
- Unfair competitive practices by extracting content to train its AI models and produce summaries.
- Similarly, self-preferencing as it displays Google-generated material ahead of links to publishers’ content.
- This deprives publishers of valuable web traffic and advertising revenue by diminishing user clicks consequently.
- Using AI Overviews to showcase advertisements, thereby monetizing content obtained from others without revenue sharing.
The complaint urgently requests the Commission to implement especially provisional measures, whereas potentially pausing the feature’s operation in Europe during the ongoing investigation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
🇬🇧 UK Complaint – Campaign to Stop “Content Theft”
Concurrently, a coalition of UK publishers and digital rights advocates has filed a regulatory complaint with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). They contend that:
- First, Publishers are being put in an undesirable situation: either permit Google to use their content within AI Overviews or face complete exclusion from search results.
- In addition, Google has established a monopoly over information dissemination, which undermines the financial viability of journalism.
- Furthermore, Google should be required to provide clear exclusion options and fair remuneration for content usage.
Under the provisions of the UK’s Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA), regulators are currently assessing whether Google should be designated a Strategic Market Status (SMS) company, which would subject it to more stringent regulatory oversight.
Impact on Publishers
The rollout of AI Overviews has had a detrimental impact on digital publishers:
- Traffic Reduction:
AI Overviews push traditional search links lower, causing reported traffic drops of up to 50% particularly.
- Revenue Decline:
Reduced traffic directly translates to fewer ad impressions and a subsequent loss of revenue for content creators.
- Devaluation of Journalism:
Original reporting is essentially converted into raw material for AI, often with minimal attribution and no financial compensation.
As one publisher remarked: “Google is consuming the web to power its AI, leaving everyone else to struggle.”
What Laws Are Being Invoked?
EU – Digital Markets Act (DMA)
The DMA prohibits “gatekeeper” platforms, such as Google, from actions including:
- Engaging in self-preferencing.
- Exploiting third-party content without appropriate authorization.
- Impeding interoperability or the availability of opt-out mechanisms.
Google’s AI Overviews potentially contravene several of these specific stipulations.
UK – DMCCA (Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act)
This recently enacted UK legislation strengthens the CMA’s authority to regulate dominant technology platforms.
Regulators could compel Google to:
- It provides users with an expanded range of choices in search interfaces especially.
- Eliminate embedded advertisements from AI summaries.
- Facilitate improved content attribution and allow for easier opt-out procedures.
Google’s Response
Google’s ResponseGoogle maintains that AI Overviews are:
- A tool that enhances, rather than diminishes, website traffic.
- It is designed to include links to authoritative sources directly within the summaries, without a doubt.
- Planning to enhance the user experience by lowering the need to navigate through multiple pages.
- Above all, in full compliance with the current EU and UK regulatory frameworks.
However, critics assert that these summaries:
- Decrease the visibility of smaller publishers.
- Although, it fails to adequately credit or compensate original content sources.
- Establish a closed-loop system where users rarely leave Google’s environment.
What Happens Next?
Event | Outcome |
CMA Decision (Expected by Oct 13, 2025) | Regulators may designate Google as an SMS platform, which would subject it to stricter regulation. |
EU Interim Measures | Although, it could result in a temporary suspension of AI Overviews in Europe. |
Formal Antitrust Investigations | May lead to substantial fines or mandatory alterations to Google’s search practices. |
Industry-Wide Precedent | It will establish a benchmark for how AI-generated content especially can legally utilize copyrighted material . |
Final Thoughts:
Google’s AI Overviews signify a transformative change in how we access information, yet they also provoke critical inquiries:
- Who holds, furthermore, ownership of online content in the era of artificial intelligence?
- Should publishers receive a settlement when generative AI models repurpose their work?
- Is it possible for invention to coexist harmoniously with appropriate competition?
The pending legal actions in the UK and EU could significantly influence not only Google’s future processes but also the trajectory of search technology, journalism, and content ownership throughout the digital generation.
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