PARIS — A federation representing nearly 300 French newspapers has filed a complaint with France's Competition Authority over Google's AI-generated search summaries, escalating a long-running dispute over how tech giants use journalistic content.
The Alliance of General Information Press (APIG), which includes major titles such as Le Figaro, Le Monde, and Les Échos, announced the move on Tuesday. It argues that Google's rollout of “AI Overviews” in France in late July violates commitments the company made in a 2022 agreement to compensate publishers for using their content.
“The unilateral rollout of new uses of press content, without prior authorisation or dedicated payment, flies in the face of those commitments,” APIG said in a statement. The group is asking the regulator to force Google to honour the 2022 deal, which was reached after years of pressure from French authorities and media groups.
Traffic losses and advertising revenue
AI Overviews appear at the top of Google search results, providing users with a concise answer compiled from multiple sources. Publishers fear that this convenience will discourage users from clicking through to their websites, cutting off a key source of traffic and advertising revenue.
APIG cited data from Arcom, France's audiovisual and digital regulator, estimating that AI-generated summaries could reduce traffic to news sites by between 33% and 38%. “Information has considerable value,” said Marc Feuillée, APIG's president and CEO of Le Figaro. “Publishers are not asking for innovation to stop. They are asking for this value to be shared and for the use of their work to be paid for, as the law requires.”
The complaint comes as media groups across Europe struggle with declining advertising income, a trend that has accelerated as digital platforms capture a growing share of the market. The EU has also taken notice: in December 2025, the European Commission opened an investigation into whether Google's use of online content to train and deliver AI services breaches competition rules.
Google has defended its AI tools, saying they allow users to ask more complex questions and discover new content. The company also insists it offers publishers ways to control how their material is handled. However, APIG argues that Google introduced the AI summaries without seeking consent, which it says amounts to a breach of the 2022 agreement.
That agreement, signed in 2022, established a framework for “neighbouring rights” under French copyright law, requiring tech giants to pay publishers when their content is used. The Competition Authority had already fined Google €250 million in 2024 for failing to comply with certain provisions of the deal.
This latest complaint is part of a broader European pushback against the dominance of US tech companies. In a separate case, the EU's €890 million fine against Google for anti-competitive practices has opened the door for more private damages claims across the continent. Meanwhile, French regulators have also been active in other sectors, such as the recent approval of Revolut's full French banking licence, which could reshape digital finance in Western Europe.
For now, APIG is calling for a balanced framework that allows publishers to negotiate payment for their content. “Publishers are ready to feed and support these new uses, within a balanced framework based on negotiated authorisation and payment commensurate with the value their content helps to create,” the association said.
The outcome of this complaint could set a precedent for how AI companies interact with news publishers across Europe, as other countries watch closely.
