UK CMA orders Google to offer AI search opt-out for publishers

Google must give UK publishers a way to opt out of AI-generated search snippets, under new conduct requirements from the Competition and Markets Authority that the regulator says are a first of their kind.

According to the Evening Standard, the CMA has given Google nine months to implement the changes after designating the company with “strategic market status” for search, citing a share of more than 90% of UK queries. The rules target generative features such as AI Overviews, which place machine-written summaries at the top of results and, publishers say, reduce click-through traffic to original reporting.

The immediate effect is to turn a technical default into a negotiable choice. Publishers would be able to prevent their material from being used to power AI-generated search features, and the CMA also wants clearer attribution and linking when content is used. Another requirement would let publishers opt out of their content being used for “fine-tuning” AI models, separating the question of appearing in search from the question of being folded into training and improvement.

The CMA frames the package as a way to strengthen publishers’ bargaining position in content deals with a platform that controls distribution. That leverage has been difficult to create through private negotiation alone: if a publisher blocks Google entirely, it risks disappearing from the place readers start. If it does nothing, it risks being summarized at the top of the page while the original article becomes a source citation rather than a destination.

Google, for its part, says it is listening to publishers and testing new controls that would let website owners manage how their links and content appear in generative search features. The company also points to product tweaks—more links inside AI responses and website previews intended to encourage clicks—while rolling out new reporting tools so site owners can see where their pages appear in AI answers.

The dispute is over who captures the value of reporting when distribution is bundled with summarisation. The CMA’s approach does not ban AI summaries; it tries to force the dominant gateway to ask permission, provide attribution, and offer a meaningful “no,” even if refusing comes with commercial consequences.

The regulator says it will announce further actions on Google’s search business in the coming weeks. For now, the timeline is fixed: Google has nine months to build an off-switch for the publishers whose work keeps the results page stocked.