The UK's competition watchdog has imposed new rules on Google, allowing publishers to block their content from AI summaries. The move by the CMA aims to give publishers more control and stronger bargaining power amid concerns over AI use.
The UK competition watchdog has imposed new requirements on Google, allowing the publishers to block their content from being used by its search crawler to display on AI summaries, according to a Reuters report.
The country's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had designated the company with strategic market status in a general search last year, allowing the regulator to order specific and targeted regulations for maintaining trust and transparency.
Publishers to Gain More Control
The regulator is of the view that the new requirements imposed on the search engine giant will allow publishers more control over their content and give them a stronger bargaining power.
The AI summaries displayed by Google have been a huge problem for publishers who have seen their click-through rates drop significantly. Under the new regime, the tech giant will have to properly display attribution stating the source of the content on its AI summaries.
"Google has recently announced changes to its search business and the requirements we've introduced today are designed to respond to what Google is doing now and in the future," the Reuters report quoted CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell as saying.
Google's Opt-Out Plan and Industry Concerns
Google has said that it is testing new changes that allow publishers to decide what content appears on the AI overviews. Those who opt out won't get any traffic from AI overviews, it added.
The News Media Association (NMA),, representing news organisations in Britain, had expressed their concerns around opting out of AI use. "Publishers need confidence that opting out of AI uses will not translate into reduced prominence in general search through knock-on effects," it said in a statement published on the CMA's website on Wednesday.
Context of the Regulation
Google came up with new search controls that sought to give news website/publishers more control over their content in a bid to allay concerns expressed by the UK competition watchdog.
The CMS had proposed in January measures to curb the use of generative AI for showcasing content by publishers without their consent. Google accounts for over 90 per cent of search queries in Britain, and its search crawler uses content to populate the AI overviews and train its AI model along with the Gemini AI assistant. (ANI)
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