A coalition of European publishers and technology companies sent a letter to the European Commission on Sunday demanding that regulators immediately fine Google over its search practices, warning that “the European Commission’s credibility is on the line” as AI-powered search features continue to drain traffic from independent websites.
The group, which includes the European Publishers Council, the European Magazine Media Association, the European Tech Alliance, EU Travel Tech, the Initiative for Neutral Search, the Innovative Europe Foundation, and the German Startup Association, urged the Commission to issue a formal non-compliance decision against Alphabet with a cease-and-desist order and a deterrent fine. The letter called for completion as early as this week.
What Google Is Accused of Doing
At the heart of the dispute is Google’s deployment of AI Overviews and AI Mode within its search engine. These features generate AI-written summaries at the top of search results, often answering user queries without requiring a click to the original source. The European Publishers Council filed a formal antitrust complaint on February 9 under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, alleging that Google is abusing its dominant position by using publishers’ content without authorization, effective opt-out mechanisms, or fair compensation.
The complaint argues that Google acts as an “unavoidable trading partner” due to its entrenched dominance in general search, and that publishers must effectively surrender their content for AI purposes as the price of remaining indexed.
The Traffic Numbers Tell the Story
The data backing the complaint is stark. Research published earlier this year found that organic click-through rates dropped 61% for queries where AI Overviews appear, falling from 1.76% to just 0.61%. Paid click-through rates fared even worse, plunging 68%. DMG Media, one of the EPC’s member publishers, told the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority that its click-through rates dropped as much as 89% when AI Overviews appeared for its content.
A separate Press Gazette analysis found that global publisher traffic from Google dropped by roughly a third in 2025. Around one in five publishers now expects to lose more than 75% of their search traffic to AI-generated answers by 2029. Some smaller publishers have already shut down entirely.
Why This Matters for Entrepreneurs
The fight is not just about European media companies. Any business that relies on organic search traffic to acquire customers faces the same headwind. Zero-click searches, where Google answers the query directly without sending visitors to a website, now account for roughly 60% of all searches, according to Bain & Company. Analysts expect that figure to approach 70% by late 2026.
For founders who have built their growth strategies around SEO and content marketing, the shift represents a fundamental change in how customers discover businesses online. Entrepreneurs who depend on ranking well on Google may need to rethink acquisition channels as AI-generated answers increasingly replace the traditional list of blue links.
What Happens Next
The European Commission’s investigation into Google’s search practices under the Digital Markets Act launched on March 25, 2024, with a target completion window of 12 months. Preliminary charges were sent to Google last year. Under the DMA, penalties can reach up to 10% of a company’s global annual revenue, which for Alphabet could mean a fine in the tens of billions of dollars.
Google has pushed back on the characterization, noting that changes it has already made to Search in response to DMA requirements represent what it called “the biggest downgrade in the product’s history.” The company is also testing new formats that would display vertical search rivals’ results alongside its own.
A Commission spokesperson told Reuters that it “aims to conclude this complex investigation as quickly as possible.” The coalition’s letter makes clear that publishers and competitors believe time is running out. “Every passing day further erodes the profitability of European companies,” the groups wrote.
Whether the Commission acts this week or not, the broader trajectory is clear. The era of search engines as neutral traffic distributors is ending, and the businesses built on that assumption are scrambling to adapt.
