Google Accused Of Google Search Monopoly Through The AI Overview Feature

JAKARTA A group called the Alliance of Independent Publishers filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission. This complaint targets the AI Overview feature in Google Search on charges of misuse of web content.

Launching from Reuters, the group stated that this feature is detrimental to many publishers, including news publishers. They suspect that AI Overview is one of the causes of the loss of their traffic, readers, and income.

In the filed complaint, the alliance said that publishers had no choice. They cannot refuse the use of material for AI Overview summary needs because this feature can read all the content on Google.

AI Overview launched in May last year as a summary feature powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). With this feature, users can ask any questions and Google Search will display a summary of the answers at the top of the page.

This feature has received rejection from many parties since its release. In February this year, an online educational platform called Chegg also filed a similar complaint. They sued Google for the use of harmful content.

When Google Search displays a summary as an answer to user questions, the need to click on links to the original website is decreasing. Therefore, not a few suspect that AI Overview causes a drastic drop in traffic.

In response to this complaint, Google stated that the new AI experience actually creates opportunities for publishers. Google also denied that Overview AI caused a decline in web traffic. According to the company, 'sites can earn and lose traffic for many reasons'.