• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, July 18, 2024

Google has come into the crosshairs of another attack on its alleged antitrust violations against publishers.

The News/Media Alliance has called on the U.S. Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission to halt Google’s “misappropriation of digital publishers’ content to power its generative artificial intelligence (“GAI”) products to enhance its monopoly power.”

It may take some time to figure that out. But the agencies should look into it. 

Of special concern  is Google’s new AI Overviews. “The prominent placement of AI Overviews at the top of Google’s search results page will reduce click through to publishers’ websites even further and thus further strengthen Google’s monopoly,” writes Danielle Coffee, president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance.

The problem is that the “only way for publishers to opt out of AI Overviews (i.e., Google’s GAI) and stop Google’s monopolistic practice is to effectively opt out of search distribution, which is not a viable option for publishers,” Coffey adds. “Accordingly, no practical solutions exist for publishers seeking to protect their original content from Google’s misappropriation." 

The letter was addressed to Jonathan Kanter, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, and Lina Khan, chair of the FTC.

Google is no big friend of publishers, given its resistance to laws that would require it to pay for content it uses. Then there’s this: 

“One week before widely releasing AI Overviews, Google adjusted its ranking algorithm to de-rank, and in some instances delist entirely, portions of publishers’ websites providing coupons and other promotional material, which provide important revenue streams for publishers,” Coffey continues. 

What’s the point of that? “In an ostensible effort intended to reduce “spam” from its search results pages, Google updated its spam policy to derank so-called third-party pages included on a first party site with little oversight or involvement, where the purpose is to manipulate search rankings,” Coffey adds. 

We’ll see if this results in any action.