The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into Googlewith the aim of assessing whether or not Google has broken competition rules in the EU by using the content of web publishers in the region to train its AI without paying for it. Also content in video format published on its YouTube platform.
During the course of the investigation, the European Commission will determine whether Google is also violating competition rights by imposing unfair terms and conditions on content creators and publishers, or by retaining privileged access to this type of content, which would disadvantage developers of rival AI models.
Specifically, the European Commission is concerned that Google may have used the content of publishers who publish online content to offer generative AI services on its search results pages without paying the publishers, and without giving them the possibility to reject such use for their content.
In addition, the European Commission will investigate to what extent the generation of AI summaries, as well as the information displayed in the AI Mode of your search engine, is based on the content of web publishers without them having received adequate compensation for it, without also having the possibility of refusing to appear in them without losing access to Google Search, since many depend on Google search results for their traffic.
They will also review whether the video and content published on YouTube have been used to train Google’s generative AI models without adequately compensating the creators, who are required to give Google permission to use their data for different purposes. Among them, the training of generative AI models.
Google does not pay content creators for their videos on YouTube, nor does it allow them to upload their content to Google without giving them permission to use your data. Additionally, developers of rival AI models are granted access to them, due to Google’s policies on using YouTube content for its AI models.
If the European Commission proves these behaviors, it may determine that Google has violated EU competition rules that prohibit using a dominant position. Specifically, article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and Article 54 of the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement.
Teresa Ribera, Vice President of Competitive, Fair and Clean Transition of the European Commissionhighlighted regarding the opening of the investigation that «A free and democratic society depends on the diversity of the media, free access to information and a dynamic creative landscape. These values are fundamental to who we are as Europeans. AI is bringing remarkable innovation and many benefits to people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the fundamental principles of our societies. We are therefore investigating whether Google has imposed unfair conditions on publishers and content creators, while putting developers of rival AI models at a disadvantage, violating EU competition rules.«.
