Publishers Including Reddit Consider Blocking Google Over AI Search Traffic Loss
Google's AI search summaries are appearing at the top of search results, reportedly causing significant traffic losses to news publishers and Reddit. Multiple publishers including USA Today, Politico, Reuters and others are reportedly considering blocking Google's access to their content as a result.
What happened
Google's AI-generated search summaries, called 'overviews,' are placed at the top of search results instead of links to news publishers' websites. Reddit, USA Today, Politico, Reuters, The Economist and other publishers reported significant declines in traffic from Google search and are reportedly considering cutting off Google's access to their content for AI training.
Reported impact
USA Today reported search traffic from US users plummeted by nearly half over 12 months ending June 2026. Politico's Google traffic fell 23%, CNN's by 25%, and Business Insider's by more than 85% over the same period. Reddit's stock fell as much as 9% on reports it was reconsidering its $60 million per year deal with Google.
Index analysis
Google argued that its AI features send billions of clicks to the web every week and offer website owners controls to manage content use. The company stated that AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.