Google Hit with EU Antitrust Complaint Over AI Overviews Allegedly Stealing Publisher Content

Google is under fire in Europe as a coalition of publisher groups has filed a formal antitrust complaint against the tech giant, alleging that its AI Overviews feature is unfairly harming news publishers and content creators.

Reuters reported that the complaint was filed on June 30 with the European Commission. It comes from the Independent Publishers Alliance, joined by The Movement for an Open Web and U.K. nonprofit Foxglove Legal.

The groups argue that Google’s AI Overviews—launched in May—scrape and summarize publishers' content without proper consent, significantly reducing website traffic and ad revenue.

“Google’s core search engine service is misusing web content for Google’s AI Overviews in Google Search, which have caused, and continue to cause, significant harm to publishers,” the complaint reads.

It claims publishers can’t opt out of their content being used for AI training or summaries without being entirely delisted from Google Search.

The AI Overviews system uses Gemini 2.5, Google’s most advanced large language model. With similar AI tools like AI Mode and Deep Search also in play, the complaint could trigger broader regulatory scrutiny.

Google responded, saying AI in Search boosts discovery for content and businesses, but publishers say they’re losing control—and readers.

The U.K.’s antitrust regulator is also reviewing the complaint.