Britain’s competition authority has unveiled proposals that would allow website owners to prevent their content from being used in Google’s “AI Overviews,” as regulators intensify efforts to rein in the tech giant’s influence over online search.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Wednesday that the proposal forms part of broader regulatory measures aimed at addressing Google’s dominance in digital search services. The move follows the regulator’s decision last year to designate Google as having “strategic market status” after a nine-month investigation, placing the company under heightened regulatory scrutiny.
Under the proposed framework, publishers would be granted the right to opt out of having their material used to generate AI-driven summaries or to train artificial intelligence models outside Google’s core search function. The CMA said the consultation on the proposal will remain open until February 25.
CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said the measures are designed to give businesses and consumers greater autonomy in how they engage with Google’s services. She added that the proposal would ensure a more balanced arrangement for content creators, particularly news organisations, regarding how their work is utilised within Google’s AI products.
The regulator stressed that the initiative aims to promote fairness and competition while ensuring that innovation in AI does not come at the expense of publishers’ rights or market diversity.
