A French press association, the Alliance of General Information Press (APIG), has asked France’s competition regulator to intervene. It has raised concerns over Google’s AI-generated news summaries. The group says Google uses publishers’ content without separate permission or payment. It also says the feature is reducing traffic to news websites, according to Reuters.

The complaint concerns Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode, which can provide AI-generated answers directly on its search service. APIG, which represents French newspapers and magazines, says Google introduced these uses of news content without negotiating with publishers. The French communications regulator Arcom estimates that the features have led to a 33% to 38% decline in traffic to publishers’ websites, according to APIG.

Separate research has also pointed to fewer clicks from searches that display AI-generated answers. Ahrefs published a study in February 2026 that analysed 300,000 keywords and aggregated Google Search Console data. It found that the click-through rate for the top-ranking result fell 58% for searches with AI Overviews in December 2025 compared with December 2023.

“The unilateral deployment of new uses of press content, without prior authorisation or dedicated remuneration, disregards these commitments,” the association said.

France’s earlier action against Meta: APIG wants the competition authority to take an approach similar to its July 2026 action against Meta. The regulator ordered Meta to submit a payment proposal. It also ordered the company to restart talks with French media groups seeking unpaid fees for continued content use. The authority said Meta likely abused its dominant position. The company and publishers had failed to agree on how to calculate payments.

Both disputes concern the EU’s “neighbouring rights” framework. It allows press publishers to seek payment when digital platforms reuse their content.

Google’s previous Copyright dispute in France: Google has already faced enforcement over these rules in France. In 2021, the competition authority fined Google €500 million. The fine followed Google’s failure to comply with orders requiring good-faith negotiations with publishers. In June 2022, Google dropped its appeal against the fine. It also accepted commitments to negotiate payments with eligible publishers and news agencies. Google had agreements covering more than 150 French publications at the time.

APIG now argues that Google’s use of press material for AI-generated search responses falls within the broader commitments arising from that dispute.

“The fact that AI is built upon media content means one single thing: this information has considerable value,” APIG president Marc Feuillée said. Publishers want that value to be shared, he added.

Publishers push for payments beyond France: The French dispute comes as governments explore ways to address the bargaining imbalance between digital platforms and publishers. Australia, for example, proposed a News Bargaining Incentive in April 2026. The proposal would charge qualifying large platforms 2.25% of their Australian-linked revenue. They could avoid the charge by entering payment agreements with news organisations. The proposal followed difficulties with Australia’s earlier bargaining framework after Meta stopped renewing publisher deals.

Unlike the French dispute, however, Australia’s proposed framework does not directly cover services primarily powered by large language models. The French complaint brings AI-generated search summaries into the existing dispute. The dispute concerns whether dominant platforms should compensate publishers for using news content.

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