{"id":38366,"date":"2025-04-21T13:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T13:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38366\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T13:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T13:01:09","slug":"googles-ai-overviews-face-scrutiny-under-eu-digital-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38366\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s AI Overviews Face Scrutiny Under EU Digital Laws"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Commission has started looking into Google\u2019s new generative search feature, AI Overviews, to see if it violates the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the EU Copyright Directive, or even the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), according to a Euractiv report<\/a>. Policymakers and publishers worry, the feature skews competition and sidelines diverse media voices.<\/p>\n

Google rolled out AI Overviews in Europe in late March<\/a>. The feature sits at the top of the search results page and uses generative AI to directly answer user queries by summarising information from across the web. Google says it helps people \u201cfind information faster,\u201d<\/a> but publishers worry it keeps users on Google while bypassing the original sources of that information.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Commission is currently assessing how the \u2018Google AI Overviews\u2019 feature works in practice and what its implications may be under EU copyright rules,\u201d Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told Euractiv. He added that \u201crules on unfair competition, platform obligations under the Digital Services Act (DSA) and DMA, and the protection of media pluralism under the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA)\u201d may also be relevant.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although the Commission hasn\u2019t taken formal enforcement action yet, it\u2019s looking at AI Overviews as part of its wider investigation into how Google may be self-prefrencing its own services in Search.<\/p>\n

Publishers Say Google Is Cutting Them Out<\/strong><\/p>\n

News outlets argue that AI Overviews have disrupted the long-standing exchange that kept the open web running: publishers create content, and platforms drive traffic in return. Now, they say, Google is extracting value from their journalism without returning the visibility or clicks.<\/p>\n

Many publishers have seen plummeting traffic after the launch of the feature, and Bloomberg reported <\/a>that Google acknowledged this effect in a closed-door meeting with 20 website creators.<\/p>\n

The BBC noted that AI-generated summaries<\/a> <\/a>could undermine its brand, either by failing to reflect the value of its reporting or by inaccurately representing its articles.<\/p>\n

In an April briefing, a senior Google executive told Euractiv<\/a> that \u201cthe number of search queries increased after the introduction of AI Overviews,<\/strong>\u201d and suggested this could help publishers in the long run. But when asked about whether click-throughs to websites had decreased, the executive said Google doesn\u2019t share such data because \u201cthe numbers are constantly changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

EU Legal Frameworks in Play<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Commission is weighing AI Overviews against several overlapping rules:<\/p>\n