The European Publishers Council (EPC) welcomes the European Commission's decision to fine Google a combined €890 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act (DMA), including €460 million specifically for self-preferencing its own vertical services, such as Shopping, Hotels, Transport and Sports results, over those of publishers and other third parties in Google Search.
The EPC has long argued that Google's search ranking practices systematically disadvantage news publishers, along with other content providers. Today's decision confirms what publishers across Europe have experienced for years: that Google's dominant position in search has been leveraged to favour its own products at the direct expense of a fair and competitive digital market.
Angela Mills Wade, EPC’s Executive Director said: “Today’s decision is an important step towards restoring fairness in digital markets. The Commission has confirmed that Google cannot use its control over Search to favour its own services over those of third parties. We particularly welcome the Commission’s confirmation that the principles of this decision will also be applied to AI Overviews and AI Mode. As Google reshapes Search around generative AI, it is essential that the same standards of fairness, transparency and non-discrimination continue to apply. AI cannot become a means of recreating, in a different form, the very practices that the Digital Markets Act is intended to prevent.”
In addition, we are very pleased to see that the Commission explicitly recognises that the non-discrimination principle of this decision must also apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode; an issue that EPC has notified early on.
The EPC welcomes the Commission’s explicit statement that Google has proposed applying the principles of today’s decision to AI Overviews and AI Mode. This confirms that these AI search interfaces form part of the Commission’s ongoing DMA compliance dialogue and cannot be viewed as falling outside the principles of fair and non-discriminatory treatment (also see our recent antitrust complaint, alleging that Google's deployment of AI Overviews and AI Mode constitutes an abuse of its dominant position in general search).
Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode are built substantially on the journalism, data and original content of European publishers, yet they are increasingly positioned to answer user queries directly, at the very top of the page, diverting clicks, readers and revenue away from the very organisations that produce the original journalism upon which Google's own services depend.
Without effective safeguards, AI-generated search interfaces risk reproducing, and potentially amplifying, the very self-preferencing concerns addressed by today’s decision by keeping users within Google’s own interface rather than directing them to the original sources.
The EPC calls on the Commission to ensure that Google cannot use generative AI features to re-create, in a new format, the very practices it has just been fined for, and to involve publishers in this dialogue.
The EPC has consistently called for robust enforcement of the DMA to ensure that gatekeepers such as Google apply transparent, fair and non-discriminatory ranking practices. We call on the Commission to remain vigilant in monitoring Google's compliance with today's decision, and to continue pursuing robust enforcement of the DMA to protect media plurality, editorial independence and fair competition and ultimately the users of the European digital market.
For further information, please contact Nikolas Moschakis : https://www.linkedin.com/company/epceurope/
The original press release from the European Publishers Council (EPC) is available to download at the top of this article. The original article can also be viewed on the EPC website: https://www.epceurope.eu/post/leading-european-publishers-welcome-european-commission-s-dma-decision-against-google-for-self-pref