EU probes Google over AI overviews, YouTube content use
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The news: The European Commission on Tuesday launched an investigation into Google’s use of web publishers’ online content and YouTube videos to train their AI models.
The context: The Commission said it will examine whether Google is distorting competition by imposing unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, or by granting itself privileged access to such content, placing rival AI players at a disadvantage.
The watchdog said it will investigate the extent to which AI Overviews and Google’s AI Mode is based on web publishers’ content without the appropriate compensation and without the ability to refuse without losing access to Google Search.
The Trump administration has repeatedly criticised the European Union over the bloc’s digital content rules and claims that US firms are being unfairly targeted.
Last week, the Commission also launched an investigation to assess whether Google’s search results ranks news publishers unfairly and could impede publishers from legitimately making money through third party content.
In September, the Commission fined Google almost €3 billion ($5.26 billion) for allegedly favouring its own advertising technology services over those of its rivals.
What they said: The Commission’s Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition said: “AI is bringing remarkable innovation and many benefits for people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the principles at the heart of our societies. This is why we are investigating whether Google may have imposed unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, while placing rival AI models developers at a disadvantage, in breach of EU competition rules.”
The source: European Commission
