The European Commission has launched a probe into Google over concerns it may be breaching EU competition laws by extracting content from websites without compensation to produce AI-generated search summaries.

“The Commission will investigate to what extent the generation of AI Overviews and AI Mode by Google is based on web publishers’ content without appropriate compensation for that, and without the possibility for publishers to refuse without losing access to Google Search,” the EU executive body said today. “Indeed, many publishers depend on Google Search for user traffic, and they do not want to risk losing access to it.”

The second strand of the commission’s investigation also focuses on Google’s use of AI, examining whether the company has used YouTube content to train its generative AI models without adequately compensating creators or allowing them to opt out.

“Europeans deserve to benefit from the latest technologies, and we will continue to work closely with the news and creative industries as they transition to the AI era,” said the bloc.

There have now been numerous lawsuits in the U.S. where data scraping and AI companies are concerned. In some cases, media companies have struck a deal with the companies. In others, the lawsuits are ongoing.

The EU isn’t trying to negotiate a content-licensing deal for anyone, but trying to ensure publishers and YouTube are being compensated for their work. It also wants to create a level-playing field for all AI firms, with the probe looking into what advantages Google might have by giving itself “privileged access” to online content.

In response, a Google spokesperson told media the probe “risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever.”

Europe has continually been the target of criticism, with U.S. Big Tech stating that overregulation is slowing down innovation. Just recently, the bloc announced it will relax data protection rules to boost AI growth. That came after President Trump aired his concerns that such limits on companies are impeding the U.S. in its race to get ahead of China. The EU is now in the process of making changes, which will mean some amount of tinkering with its controversial AI Act.

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