Google faces new EU antitrust probe for allegedly using publisher, YouTube content to train AI

The European Commission said Tuesday it has opened an antitrust investigation into Google’s use of content from web publishers and YouTube creators to train its AI-powered search features, including Overviews and AI Mode.

The commission said it was concerned that Google may have used publishers’ content without “appropriate compensation” and without offering them “the possibility to refuse such use of their content” without losing access to Google Search.

“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,” EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said.

“A healthy information ecosystem depends on publishers having the resources to produce quality content. We will not allow gatekeepers to dictate those choices,” she added.

European regulators are also investigating Google’s alleged use of YouTube content to train its generative AI models without proper remuneration or option for creators to opt out. The commission noted that rival AI developers are barred from using YouTube content to train their own models.

This marks the fifth EU antitrust probe to hit Google, after investigations into its search engine, Android operating system, search advertising and advertising technology. “This complaint risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever,” a Google spokesperson said.

The new probe comes just a few days after the commission opened a separate investigation into Meta’s new AI policy on WhatsApp, which regulators say could block competing AI providers from the platform.

It also comes less than a month after the commission opened an investigation into whether Google Search unfairly demoted web publishers’ pages containing third-party commercial content, such as affiliate links and sponsored editorial articles.

The new investigation was started after the Movement for an Open Web, Foxglove and the Independent Publisher Alliance submitted a complaint earlier this year to the commission against Google’s AI Overviews.

“This case isn’t about opposition to innovation; it’s about stopping a business model that’s built on theft and monopolistic dominance. Google’s AI Overviews are nothing more than double daylight robbery, stealing content from publishers to inform their models and then using these outputs to steal traffic from them,” said James Rosewell, co-founder of Movement for an Open Web, in a statement to The Current.

“We recognize that the investigation is going to take time to work through the evidence, but in the meantime, we need to see immediate interim measures giving publishers the ability to control their involvement in Google’s IP theft machine.”