Google faces EU antitrust investigation over AI Overviews, YouTube

Google is facing a new EU antitrust investigation over claims that it is using publishers’ online content and YouTube videos to train its AI models without proper permission or payment. The European Commission fears Google may be abusing its dominant search position by taking publishers’ material for AI Overviews—its AI-generated summaries—without giving them a real choice to opt out. Similar concerns apply to YouTube videos uploaded by users. EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said publishers must be protected so they can continue producing quality content, while Google responded that the complaint could harm innovation and that it works closely with news and creative industries. Publisher groups argue Google is breaking the basic internet agreement by prioritising its AI tools like Gemini over website links while using those same websites to train its AI. The company could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue if found guilty, as the EU also probes its spam policies, following another recent investigation into Meta—showing rising scrutiny of big tech in the AI era.