Google AI Overviews reduces news site traffic 20.6% in Brazil
A study by Authoritas found that Google's AI Overviews feature reduces traffic to Brazilian news websites by at least 20.6%, reportedly because users satisfy their information needs from AI-generated summaries without clicking through to source articles. The research was submitted to Brazil's competition authority (Cade) by four civil society organizations, citing concerns about unpaid use of news content in training the AI system.
What happened
A study by Authoritas found that Google's AI Overviews feature causes traffic to Brazilian news websites to drop by at least 20.6%.
The feature provides AI-generated summaries in response to search queries, appearing before traditional search result links. Users often satisfy their information needs from the summary without clicking through to source websites, a phenomenon known as 'zero click'.
Before AI Overviews, the first search result achieved a click-through rate of 21.4%; after its incorporation, this dropped to 8.93%, meaning sites in the top position lost 58.3% of visitors from search.
Reported impact
News organizations lose audience and advertising revenue as users no longer click through to their websites. The impact is compounded because the AI system was trained on journalistic content without permission or compensation to the publishers.
Google reportedly refuses to share detailed data with news publishers to assess the impact of AI-generated summaries.
Index analysis
AI-generated summaries appear in 35.3% of searches for news and current events in Brazil.
Governance controls
Four civil society organizations—Idec, FGV Direito Rio's Centro de Tecnologia e Sociedade, Foxglove, and Artigo 19—submitted the Authoritas study to Brazil's competition authority (Cade) on 13 November 2025.
Google states that total organic clicks from its search remained stable after AI Overviews was introduced and that clicks increased in some categories.
Classification
Sources and evidence
Sources not yet published
This record was researched and written by the Index from original reporting. Its sources are still being verified by an editor, and they are listed here once that check is complete. Until then the record carries no reviewer.