UK Forces Google to Let Publishers Opt Out of AI Search Under New Rules

The UK has imposed new requirements on Google’s search services, including allowing publishers to stop their content from being used to power the U.S. tech giant’s artificial intelligence (AI) features, the country’s competition regulator announced on June 3.

The country’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) flagged concerns about the tech giant’s dominance in search, designating Google “strategic market status,” which allows it to set targeted rules to increase trust and transparency.

Google accounts for more than 90 percent of British general search queries, the regulator said in January, also stating that it wanted to give publishers more control over how their content was used.

The CMA has said in its latest remarks that the requirements imposed on the California company under the digital markets competition regime gave “publishers more control and stronger bargaining power over the use of their content,” while securing a fair deal for Google.

News websites and other publishers have experienced sharp drops in click-through rates as a result of users’ reliance on overviews generated with the help of Google’s Gemini AI.

The CMA said Google would be required to ensure that content from publishers, including news organizations, was properly attributed in AI‑generated search results, using clear links.

CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said that the move is “enabling fair treatment, greater transparency and meaningful choice for businesses and consumers.”

“With features like AI Overviews rapidly reshaping online search, it is crucial that content publishers, including news organisations, have appropriate bargaining power over how their content is used,” she said.

“Google has recently announced changes to its search business and the requirements we’ve introduced today are designed to respond to what Google is doing now and in the future.”

Cardell also said that the CMA would “continue to use the unique flexibility of the UK regime to monitor and address future concerns as they arise” and will announce “further action in relation to Google’s search business in the coming weeks.”

Google said in a June 3 blog post that it was providing “new resources, insights, and control for website owners” to navigate the changes in how users find and understand information using generative AI.

“With our generative AI Search features, people are more satisfied with Search, and they are searching more often,” it stated.

It also stated that the AI overviews were leading people to search “entirely new kinds of questions, creating new opportunities for brands, publishers, and creators to reach people.”

“Features like AI Overviews and AI Mode are designed to help people find and visit great websites, and to help publishers and websites strengthen their audiences,” Google stated. “These features include prominent links to websites, and we’re continuing to upgrade these experiences to make it easier for people to use generative AI as a jumping-off point.”

Google further stated that it was testing a new control that lets publishers manage how their links and content appear in generative AI search features, and it said that sites that opt out would not receive traffic from AI Overviews and AI Mode, but the controls would not affect traditional search results.

It stated that it was also increasing the number of links in AI responses, and it was starting to roll out new insights for publishers.

The Epoch Times reached out to Google for comment and was directed to the blog post.

Google faces increasing scrutiny across the world, including in the United States and the European Union.

In December 2025, the EU opened an antitrust investigation into whether Google had breached its competition rules over content used for AI purposes.

The European Commission, which acts as the bloc’s executive branch, said in a statement dated Dec. 8 that it would examine whether Google used the content of web publishers for its search engine’s AI-powered services, AI Overview and AI Mode, without adequately compensating publishers or without giving them the option to refuse the use of their content. The probe is still ongoing.

In the United States, Google, along with Meta, was found liable for causing psychological harm to a 20-year-old woman as a result of her being addicted to their respective YouTube and Instagram apps.

The tech firms were ordered by a court in Los Angeles to pay a total of $6 million in damages, following the jury’s verdict on March 25.

Of the $3 million in compensatory damages, Meta was ordered to pay 70 percent and Google 30 percent. The jury awarded another $3 million in punitive damages, including $2.1 million from Meta and $900,000 from Google.

The verdict, which came after nine days of deliberation, sets the stage for thousands of related lawsuits brought by parents, children, school districts, and attorneys general across the country, offering the first blueprint for how to argue such claims—and for what damages might be sought.

Beige Luciano-Adams contributed to this report.