According to TheRegister.com, the European Commission launched a formal antitrust investigation into Google on June 27, 2024. The probe focuses on allegations that Google is using content from the general web and its YouTube platform to train its AI algorithms, including features like AI Overviews and AI Mode, without appropriate compensation to publishers and creators. Regulators are specifically concerned that these sources aren’t given a clear option to refuse having their content used for AI training. Simultaneously, the EC alleges Google is preventing its AI rivals from using YouTube content for their own model training, potentially creating an unfair competitive advantage. Google has defended itself, arguing the complaint “risks stifling innovation” and that it offers tools like the Google-Extended crawler token for publisher control.
The core complaint
Here’s the thing: this isn’t just about scraping data. It’s about power. The EU is basically asking if Google‘s dominance in search and video lets it set the rules of the new AI game before anyone else even gets to the field. By allegedly using all that web and YouTube content as free fuel for its own AI, while telling competitors they can’t touch the YouTube stuff, Google might be turning its existing monopolies into an unassailable lead in generative AI. And the opt-out mechanisms? The EC seems deeply skeptical that Google’s robots.txt respect or its Google-Extended token are meaningful choices when saying “no” could hurt a site’s search visibility. It’s a classic “you can refuse, but you might regret it” scenario.
A broader crackdown
This isn’t happening in a vacuum. This Google probe comes less than a week after the EU opened a similar investigation into Meta for allegedly shutting rival AI chatbots out of WhatsApp. So there’s a pattern forming. Brussels isn’t just looking at today’s market dominance; it’s trying to head off what it sees as the next potential monopoly. They’re worried the giants will use their control over vast data troves—your posts, your videos, your website’s content—to control the future of AI. Meta cried “baseless” and said it was a technical issue. Google is crying “stifled innovation.” But the EU’s message seems clear: your scale doesn’t give you a free pass to set all the terms for the next tech era.
What it means for creators and publishers
For the people actually making the content, this is a huge deal. Imagine you’re a YouTuber or a news site. Your work is potentially being used to build a multi-billion dollar AI product, and you’re not seeing a dime from that specific use. Google points to tools like its likeness detection for AI, but that’s about protecting your image after the AI is built, not about consent or compensation for the training process itself. The fundamental question the EU is posing is: who owns the value derived from data? And do creators have any real agency, or are they just feedstock for the algorithms? I think many feel like it’s the latter.
Google’s defense and the road ahead
Google’s argument hinges on its existing tools and the fear of regulation killing progress. It points to Google-Extended as a way for sites to control AI crawling. But let’s be real—how many publishers feel they can safely block Google’s crawlers without consequence? Probably not many. The official EC announcement frames this as a straight-up abuse of dominance case. If the EU finds against Google, the penalties could be massive and force a complete rethink of how AI models are trained on public data. It could set a precedent that content has to be licensed for AI training, not just taken. That would change everything. So this isn’t just another regulatory skirmish. It’s a battle over the foundational economics of the AI age.
