Overview
- The formal investigation, launched on December 9, focuses on whether AI Overviews and AI Mode rely on media content without payment or a meaningful opt‑out for publishers.
- Brussels is also reviewing alleged use of YouTube uploads to train Google’s models without compensating creators or offering an opt‑out, while limiting rivals’ access to the same material.
- Officials are assessing whether unfair terms or privileged access to third‑party content distorted competition and disadvantaged competing AI model makers.
- Under EU competition rules, findings could lead to sanctions including fines of up to 10% of Alphabet’s annual global revenue, with no deadline set for conclusions.
- Google criticized the case as a threat to innovation and said it works with news and creative industries, as the probe follows complaints from Foxglove, the Independent Publishers Alliance and Movement for an Open Web and sits within wider EU scrutiny of Big Tech including X and Meta.