Press release: UK regulator says Google must give journalists opt-out from AI theft, following Foxglove complaint
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today announced new ‘conduct requirements’ for Google, aimed at stopping it from stealing journalists’ work to feed its ‘AI Overviews.’
Foxglove, a tech justice non-profit, together with partners, submitted a complaint to the CMA on this issue in June 2025, highlighting the significant damage AIO was causing to UK news publishers – leading to drops of up to 79% in traffic to their websites – and calling on the regulator to act.
Announcing the measures today, the CMA said that “publishers will now have effective tools to prevent their content being used to power AI features in search, such as AI Overviews (AIO). This will put publishers, like news organisations, in a stronger position to negotiate content deals with Google.”
Foxglove welcomes the CMA’s new measures but is concerned that implementation needs to be faster to end the ongoing damage to the news industry, and that further action may be needed to ensure effective scrutiny of Google’s compliance.
The CMA has given Google nine months to implement the measures in full, and has said that it will need to provide compliance reports every six months for the first year, then annually after that. Notably, the CMA has dropped a previous proposal that the report should initially be undertaken by an independent auditor. It has also refused suggestions that Google’s ‘crawlers’ – the software used to feed its search and its AI Overview functions – should be separated to ensure compliance.
The CMA has also said it will “actively monitor” the new changes to search announced by Google in May, including the integration of new generative AI features and AI agents, and if necessary “bring forward work on further measures to ensure a fair exchange of value between Google and publishers.”
Rosa Curling, co-executive director at Foxglove, said:
“We’re delighted that the CMA is finally standing up to Google’s theft of journalists’ work. Foxglove has been urging them to do this for the past year. Google’s AI Overviews are a threat not only to an independent news industry, but to an informed democracy.
“Google’s AI Overviews don’t only take others’ work without payment. They also make it harder for journalists to directly reach their audience – threatening their survival. Without independent journalism, it becomes far harder to hold powerful governments and corporations to account.
“Until now, the only way to stop Google stealing your work was to opt out from being visible at all in Google search. With Google controlling 90% of search, this was akin to removing yourself from the internet.
“In short, Google has shown that it is willing to use its excessive monopoly power to crush a crucial part of our democracy – in pursuit of its short-sighted obsession with AI dominance.
“While the CMA’s action is welcome, there are concerns that Google may still be able to wriggle out of its obligations. The measures would allow it to mark its own homework, rather than being subject to rigorous, independent audit.
“The timeframe is too generous – there is no reason to give Google nine months to put a stop to the terrible harm it is causing – which it has, itself, been aware of for years.
“The CMA must watch Google like a hawk – both to ensure compliance with these measures, and to act urgently on any harm resulting from its new proposals around new AI features and agents in search.”
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Notes to editors
For further information, or to request a copy of Foxglove’s complaint to the CMA and submission to its consultation earlier this year, please email press[at]foxglove.org.uk