The EC's proceedings are intended to clarify whether Google is abusing its dominant market position by imposing unfair conditions on publishers and content creators, as well as whether it provides itself with privileged access to materials used to create artificial intelligence tools. According to the Commission, this may put competing AI models at a disadvantage.
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What are the allegations against Google?
What is the European Commission investigating about Google?
Can Google get a financial penalty?
What services does Google offer?
The Commission suspects that Google may have used online publishers' content to provide its artificial intelligence-based services (AI Overviews and AI Mode) without adequate compensation to publishers and without offering them the opportunity to refuse the use of their content. It will therefore examine the extent to which the content generated by Google within AI Overviews and AI Mode is based on publishers' content.
A separate thread concerns YouTube. The Commission is investigating whether Google uses material posted by creators on this platform to train its artificial intelligence models without rewarding them and without being able to block such use.
At the same time, competing companies creating artificial intelligence models are, in accordance with YouTube's regulations, barred from using YouTube content to train their own artificial intelligence models.
If the allegations are confirmed, the EC will be able to impose a financial penalty on the US company. The Commission emphasizes that the initiation of the proceedings does not prejudge its outcome, and the case will be handled as a matter of priority.
Google, based in the United States, is an international technology company specializing in Internet services and products, which include, among others: online advertising, search, cloud computing, software and artificial intelligence.
