The European Commission launched a formal antitrust investigation Tuesday into whether Google breached EU competition rules by using web publisher and YouTube content to power its artificial intelligence services without fair compensation or consent.
"The Commission will investigate to what extent the generation of AI Overviews and AI Mode by Google is based on web publishers' content without appropriate compensation for that, and without the possibility for publishers to refuse without losing access to Google Search," a Tuesday statement said.
Publishers must either let Google use their content for AI summaries without payment or risk losing visibility in Search. YouTube creators face a similar dilemma, as uploading gives Google automatic AI-training rights with no compensation while rival AI developers are barred from using the same content.
"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,” Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, said in the statement.
Even Alex Chandra, partner at IGNOS Law Alliance, told Decrypt the investigation "reflects a deeper, structural ambition: to subject globally scalable digital business models to the EU's regulatory and competitive framework."
“If the Commission is not very disciplined (transparent about burden-of-proof, consistent across geography and business model) this could become less about “fair competition” and more about “favoring what fits European regulatory and economic priorities,” he said.
If proven, the practices under investigation may breach EU competition rules that ban dominant companies from using their market power to distort competition.
The regulator said it will carry out its investigation as a matter of priority, but provided no legal deadline for concluding the probe.
Big tech cornered
The investigation comes less than a month after the Commission formally launched proceedings to assess whether Google applies fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory conditions of access to publishers' websites on Google Search under the Digital Markets Act.
In September, the Commission fined Google $3.1 billion (€2.95 billion) for breaching EU antitrust rules by favoring its own advertising technology services over competing providers.
The Commission ordered Google to end its self-preferencing practices and implement measures to address conflicts of interest across the adtech supply chain.
Last week, the Commission also opened an investigation into Meta over policy changes that allow its own AI chatbot to operate on WhatsApp while blocking rivals from doing the same.
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