Amid growing scrutiny over Google's dominant position in search and online advertising, the UK's antitrust watchdog has ordered the company to give news publishers greater control over how their content is used in its search engine. The regulator has also directed Alphabet-owned Google to make changes to its AI-generated search summaries.
According to the CMA’s ruling, Google must also enable publishers to manage how their content is used to train AI services and is prohibited from taking retaliatory action against publishers who exercise these controls. Google has a nine-month deadline to implement all of the changes mandated by the CMA.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that this "world-first" measure will enable publishers to prevent their content from being used to support AI functionalities in Google Search. "This will put publishers, like news organizations, in a stronger position to negotiate content deals with Google," the CMA said on Wednesday.
Google faces mounting pressure. The measures follow the CMA's designation of Google as having strategic market status in search and online advertising, giving the regulator greater oversight powers. Google must also disclose how AI uses search content, provide publishers with engagement metrics, and clearly attribute content used in AI-generated features.
The CMA said it will "actively monitor" Google's changes and announced that further action related to the company's search business could follow in the coming weeks. In response, Google said it will begin testing new controls in the UK that allow "a subset of website owners" to manage how their content appears in AI-powered search features before expanding the changes globally.
"We're also actively listening to feedback from publishers and creators, and engaging with regulators like the UK's Competition and Markets Authority to ensure website owners have the right tools as user preferences evolve," said Mrinalini Loew, General Manager at Google Search Ecosystem.
