UK publishers can now block Google AI summaries

Online publishers and news organisations are now able to block their content appearing in Google’s AI summaries in UK search results, the British competition watchdog has announced.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the new requirement would “put publishers, like news organisations, in a stronger position to negotiate content deals with Google”.

Many media organisations have complained that they have experienced a drop in click-through traffic to their websites – and therefore their revenue – since Google started placing AI summaries at the top of its search page. Many people read these without clicking through to the original journalism.

Up until now, websites were also unable to opt out of their content being scraped for AI overviews without also withdrawing from traditional Google search. Given the company’s market dominance, this would have reduced the visibility of their journalism.

The News Media Association, which represents UK news publishers including The Guardian, said the decision was a “significant step towards levelling the playing field and building a fair, transparent digital economy where premium content is properly respected and fairly compensated”.

Google said it would start testing a new control from Wednesday on a subset of UK-based media sites, allowing owners to manage how their links and content appear in its AI search features, with the aim of rolling the controls out globally.

The new measures are among those announced by the CMA to loosen Google’s grip on search, which the watchdog said would “secure a fairer deal for publishers and consumers and improve Google’s search services in the UK”.

It said Google would now be required to make sure that publisher content was properly attributed, using clear links, in AI-generated search results, in order to boost consumer trust.

The CMA said the new measures fall under the UK’s digital markets competition regime, and follow on from its decision to designate Google with strategic market status in general search services. It first proposed the idea of an AI search summary opt-out in January.

“It is crucial that content publishers, including news organisations, have appropriate bargaining power over how their content is used,” said Sarah Cardell, the watchdog’s chief executive.

She called this a “world‑first requirement on Google’s search services in the UK” and said it would enable “fair treatment, greater transparency and meaningful choice for businesses and consumers”.

The tech company accounts for more than 90% of general searches in the UK, according to the CMA, and as a result, publishers and news organisations have relied on search results to drive consumers to their websites.

The CMA has previously estimated that search advertising costs the equivalent of nearly £500 for each UK household a year, which could be kept down with effective competition.

It said Google had announced significant changes to its search platform in May, which could fundamentally change how search results are presented to UK users. The new conduct requirement would also apply to these changes, the CMA said, adding that it would monitor Google’s conduct and assess the implications for businesses.

Tom Lewis, a competition lawyer at Geradin Partners and a former CMA director who represent news publishers on Google search issues, said the changes would help news publishers keep some control over how the US tech company uses their work.

“The CMA should be congratulated for tackling this issue. They are aiming to open up competition on the key digital platforms,” he said, adding that Google’s plan to roll out changes globally was a “big win”.

The watchdog also said it would be making further announcements related to Google’s search business in the coming weeks.

Google said in a blogpost published on Wednesday that it was engaging with regulators such as the CMA “to ensure website owners have the right tools as user preferences evolve”.

Mrinalini Loew, the general manager at Google Search Ecosystem, said it was beginning to test a new tool allowing website owners to manage how their links and content appear in its AI search features, such as AI overviews and AI mode.

“We are beginning to roll these features out to a subset of website owners in the UK, allowing for thorough testing before rolling them out to website owners globally,” she said.

The control will not be used as a ranking signal for search results outside the generative AI search features, Loew added.