Italian Publishers File Complaint Against Google AI Overviews
Italian newspaper publishers filed a formal complaint with the national communications regulator against Google's AI Overviews service, alleging it reduces traffic to their websites and causes advertising revenue losses by providing complete AI summaries in search results. Publishers claim the service violates the Digital Services Act and have sought investigation by the European Commission.
What happened
Italian newspaper publishers associated with Fieg filed a formal complaint with Agcom, Italy's communications regulator, on 15 October 2025 against Google's AI Overviews service. According to the complaint, Google integrates AI-generated responses directly into search results, which discourages users from clicking through to original publisher websites.
The complaint highlights that the AI Mode function—a button in Google Search that places AI responses in the center of the page and relegates links to a sidebar—exacerbates the problem. European publishers in Enpa have also raised the issue with digital services coordinators in other EU countries, seeking an investigation by the European Commission under the Digital Services Act.
Reported impact
Publishers claim AI Overviews and AI Mode reduce the visibility and accessibility of their content, causing them to lose advertising revenue. The Fieg complaint states that the economic sustainability of news websites is threatened by this competition with AI-generated summaries.
Index analysis
Fieg argues in its technical note that Google violates fundamental Digital Services Act provisions with effects prejudicial to Italian users, consumers, and businesses. The complaint characterizes Google as a 'traffic killer' that diverts users from original news sources and threatens the sustainability of quality journalism and plurality of information.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.