Google hit with antitrust complaint in EU over AI summaries harming web traffic to news sites: report

Core Viewpoint - A group of independent publishers has filed an antitrust complaint against Google in the European Union, alleging that Google's AI-generated summaries are harming their traffic and revenue by promoting its own content over original sources [1][12]. Group 1: Complaint Details - The complaint, submitted by the Independent Publishers Alliance, requests the European Commission to impose interim measures to prevent "irreparable harm" to publishers [2]. - It alleges that Google's AI Overviews misuse web content, causing significant harm to publishers, particularly in terms of traffic, readership, and revenue loss [3]. - The complaint highlights that 37 of the top 50 US news domains have experienced year-over-year traffic declines since the launch of AI Overviews in May 2024 [4]. Group 2: Impact on Traffic and Clicks - SimilarWeb reported that the percentage of news-related web searches ending without a click to a news site increased to 69% in May 2025, up from 56% in the same month the previous year [5]. - The AI Overviews feature, which displays summaries at the top of search results, is available in over 100 countries and has recently incorporated advertisements [7]. Group 3: Regulatory and Legal Context - The complaint is supported by organizations advocating for an open web, which argue that Google's practices pose an urgent threat to competition and access to news [10]. - Google is facing multiple antitrust investigations in both the EU and the US, with ongoing scrutiny regarding its dominance in search and advertising markets [16][18]. - A recent ruling in the US found that Google violated antitrust laws by maintaining monopolies in general search and search advertising [18].