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The
watchdog is seeking to loosen the U.S. tech giant’s stranglehold
on the U.K’s online search market by using new digital powers to
force changes to the company’s business practices.
Under the decision, Google will have to give publishers
“effective tools” to prevent their content from being used to
power the company's generative artificial intelligence services
and its AI search features like AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Google will also have to properly cite publisher content in
AI-generated search resulted by using clear links, and let
publishers opt out of having their content used to fine-tune AI
models.
The watchdog said the decision will give publishers a stronger
hand when negotiating content deals with Google. Publishers are
defined as anyone who puts content on the web that's available
to people in Britain.
The CMA's ruling was expected, because it had released draft
proposals at the start of the year after using its new digital
powers to label Google a “ strategic” player in online search
advertising.
It previously found that news publishers had suffered a drop in
traffic since Google rolled out its AI Overviews - summaries
that appear at the top of some search queries - because fewer
users are clicking through to the original articles.
The watchdog said its requirements will also apply to big
changes that Google unveiled in May, which further embed AI in
the company's search services.
Google is “engaging with regulators like the UK’s Competition
and Markets Authority to ensure website owners have the right
tools as user preferences evolve," the company's general manager
of search ecosystem, Mrinalini Loew, said in a blog post.
“Today, we’re beginning to test a new control that lets website
owners manage how their links and content appear in generative
AI Search features.”
CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said the measures will result
in “fair treatment, greater transparency and meaningful choice
for businesses and consumers” and will help tens of millions of
British users “better understand and trust the information
presented to them.”
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