• by Laurie Sullivan , over 1 hour ago

The U.K.-based Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has asked Google to build in an opt-out feature for publishers that would allow them to restrict their content from being used in AI Overviews or to train AI models.

The CMA's request -- made public on Wednesday -- is part of several measures that suggest Google make its search-result rankings "fair and transparent" for businesses, including in AI Overviews and AI Mode, allow people to switch search services by making default choice screens on Android mobile phones a legal requirement and introduce choice screens in the Chrome browser, and make the use of Google search data easy.

“These targeted and proportionate actions would give UK businesses and consumers more choice and control over how they interact with Google’s search services - as well as unlocking greater opportunities for innovation across the UK tech sector and broader economy,” stated Sarah Cardell, CEO of the CMA. “They would also provide a fairer deal for content publishers, particularly news organizations, over how their content is used in Google’s AI Overviews.”

AI has begun to permeate all aspects of online life. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has seen how AI and agentic AI continue to shift consumer behavior, and create rising performance pressure for advertisers.

Media buyers are focusing on AI investment across core functions — from generative AI in media campaigns to optimize content for AI-generated answers, according to the 2026 IAB Outlook Study released Wednesday. The AI-generated answers appear in search applications like AI Overviews.

With 96% of media buyers aware of agentic AI for making purchases, and two-thirds focusing on it, AI is being positioned to coordinate planning, activation, and optimization, setting a future for how media transactions are executed.

Google Search accounts for more than 90% of all general search queries in the U.K., according to the CMA.

More than 200,000 firms in the U.K. collectively spent more than £10 billion on Google’s search advertising last year.

The 200,000 represents the number of U.K. businesses identified by the regulator as relying on Google's advertising services to reach customers.

While these services are important to the U.K.’s economy, the CMA in October 2025 gave Google strategic market status (SMS) in search services, which enabled the organization to set targeted requirements to promote fair dealing, open choices, and transparency.

Some do not believe the CMA went far enough. In an email sent to MediaPost, Tim Cowen, co-founder, Movement for an Open Web, wrote: “The CMA’s proposed remedies for Google’s AI Overviews fall well short of the mark.

Cowen wrote that "Google’s AI Overviews are stealing huge amounts of traffic and therefore revenue from publishers, and opting out of AI Overviews in the future won’t change that."

It will only stop publishers from being able to access the crumbs of traffic that they might get from being present in AIOs. He thinks the CMA needs to enforce unbundling and payment for loss of business opportunity by being squeezed out of rankings.