The European Commission is taking another shot at Google, this time over how it uses online content to train its artificial intelligence tools.
The new investigation comes just months after the company was hit with a $3.4 billion antitrust fine over its dominance in digital advertising.
Specifically, the Commission wants to know whether the company is using material from web publishers and YouTube creators to train its AI features like AI Overviews and AI Mode, and if it’s doing so without fair compensation or the ability to opt out.
“AI is bringing remarkable innovation and many benefits for people and businesses across Europe, but this progress cannot come at the expense of the principles at the heart of our societies,” said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition.
The Commission is also examining if publishers are effectively forced to allow their content to be used for AI in order to stay visible on Google Search, raising concerns about monopolistic pressure.
A Google spokesperson told CNBC, “This complaint risks stifling innovation in a market that is more competitive than ever. 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.”
Part of a Larger Crackdown
The investigation adds to growing tension between the EU and U.S. tech firms. In September, the European Commission fined Google €2.95 billion (about $3.45 billion) for abusing its dominance in the adtech industry.
Officials said Google unfairly favored its own ad services and charged high fees, hurting publishers and competing platforms.
At the time, Ribera warned, “Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate to impose strong remedies.”
Google said it would appeal, arguing the decision was wrong and would harm European businesses.
“There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s global head of regulatory affairs.
A Broader Tech Battle
Google isn’t the only company feeling the pressure. Last week, the EU fined Elon Musk’s platform X €120 million (about $140 million) for failing to properly verify blue tick users and not offering enough transparency on ads.
The EU said X’s verification system was “deceptive” and made users vulnerable to scams and impersonation. It also accused the platform of denying researchers access to public data and not providing sufficient ad transparency.
In response, Musk posted that the EU “should be abolished” and retweeted a comparison of the EU to fascism. X then blocked the European Commission from running ads on the platform.
Nikita Bier, a senior X executive, accused the EU of exploiting a rarely-used account and posting deceptive content to artificially boost its reach.
“It seems you believe that the rules should not apply to your account,” he wrote. “Your ad account has been terminated.”
A European Commission spokesperson pushed back, telling the BBC it was “simply using the tools that platforms themselves are making available to our corporate accounts” and expects these tools to comply with the platform’s own terms and the EU’s legal framework.
The EU has also opened an antitrust probe into Meta over policies that may allow AI firms to access WhatsApp user data.
These latest moves show the EU is ramping up enforcement of its Digital Services Act and broader competition laws, taking a tough stance against what it sees as unfair behavior by dominant American tech companies in Europe.
Google now has to answer tough questions, again, about how it handles the content that powers its most advanced tools.