According to Thurrott.com, the European Commission announced today that it’s opening a formal antitrust investigation into Google. The probe specifically targets how Google uses web content, including YouTube videos, to train its AI models and power features like AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search. The regulator is concerned Google may be using publisher content without consent or proper compensation, and that its control over YouTube gives it an unfair data advantage over rival AI developers. AI Mode is already available in over 200 markets, including major European countries like Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK. If found in breach of EU competition rules, Google could face fines of up to 10% of its global annual revenue. In response, a Google spokesperson argued the investigation risks stifling innovation in a competitive market.
Google’s Data Moat
Here’s the thing: this investigation cuts to the very heart of Google’s business model in the AI era. For years, its dominance in search and video gave it an unparalleled view of what people do online. Now, that data isn’t just for ads—it’s the fuel for its generative AI. The EU’s point is pretty stark. They’re saying, “Hey, you have this walled garden of YouTube where creators can’t say no to their content being used for AI training. And by the way, your rivals can’t touch that data because of your policies.” That’s a powerful, and potentially anti-competitive, data moat. It’s not just about having a lot of data; it’s about having exclusive access to a specific, vast, and valuable type of data that others are legally barred from using.
The Publisher Squeeze
And then there’s the other side of the coin: the publishers. The Commission nailed a brutal dynamic here. A publisher might want to refuse Google using its articles to train AI that could ultimately steal its traffic. But can they really afford to? As the regulator noted, saying “no” might mean losing access to Google Search traffic altogether. For many sites, that’s a death sentence. So they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. They provide the raw material, potentially get their business model undermined by the AI summaries built from it, and feel they have no real power to negotiate. It’s a raw deal, and the EU is basically calling Google out on whether this constitutes an abuse of its dominant position.
Innovation Or Extraction?
Google’s defense—that this “risks stifling innovation”—is the standard tech giant playbook. But the EU’s argument flips that script. They’re essentially asking: Is it truly *innovation* if it’s built on an unfair access to resources your competitors can’t get? Or is it just leveraging an old monopoly to build a new one? This isn’t a small skirmish. It’s a foundational fight over how the data economy works in the age of AI. The outcome could force massive changes in how AI companies license and use training data, especially from content platforms they own. It also puts a huge spotlight on YouTube’s terms of service. Creators have long grumbled about them, but now those terms are a central piece in a global antitrust case. That’s a big deal.
What Happens Next
So, what now? This investigation will take years, not months. But the signal it sends is immediate. The EU is drawing a line in the sand, saying the old “move fast and break things” approach to data scraping and reuse needs legal boundaries in the AI context. The potential 10% global revenue fine is a massive stick—that’s tens of billions of dollars. It forces Google to the negotiating table. We’ll likely see more voluntary licensing deals and “opt-out” tools being promoted by Google in Europe, as a pre-emptive defense. But the core question remains: can the company that indexes the web own the right to use all of it to build its next-generation products, while locking others out? The EU seems to think the answer is probably “no.”
