The European Commission is investigating if Google has breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers, as well as content uploaded on the online video-sharing platform YouTube, for AI purposes. In particular, the investigation will assess if Google is distorting competition by imposing unfair terms and conditions on publishers and content creators, or by granting itself privileged access to such content, thereby placing developers of rival AI models at a disadvantage.
The Commission is concerned that Google may have used:
- The content of web publishers to provide generative AI-powered services (AI Overviews and AI Mode) on its search results pages without appropriate compensation to publishers and without offering them the chance to refuse such use of their content. AI Overviews shows AI-generated summaries responsive to a user’s search query above organic results, while AI Mode is a search tab like a chatbot answering users’ queries in a conversational style. 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, and without the possibility for publishers to refuse without losing access to Google Search. It points out that many publishers depend on Google Search for user traffic, and they do not want to risk losing access to it.
- Video and other content uploaded on YouTube to train Google’s generative AI models without appropriate compensation to creators and without offering them the possibility to refuse such use of their content. Content creators uploading videos on YouTube have an obligation to grant Google permission to use their data for different purposes, including for training generative AI models. Google does not remunerate YouTube content creators for their content, nor does allow them to upload their content on YouTube without allowing Google to use such data. At the same time, rival developers of AI models are barred by YouTube policies from using YouTube content to train their own AI models.
If proven, the practices under investigation may breach EU competition rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant position in Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 54 of the EEA Agreement.
The Commission will now carry out its in-depth investigation as a matter of priority. As usual, it emphasises that the opening of a formal investigation does not prejudge its outcome.
investigation depends on several factors, including the complexity of the case, the extent to which the companies concerned cooperate with the Commission and the parties’ exercise of the rights of defence.
