EU Opens Antitrust Probe into Google’s AI Search and YouTube Data Use

The European Commission has opened an antitrust investigation into Google’s AI-powered search features — notably AI Overviews and AI Mode — and its use of YouTube data. Regulators will examine whether Google’s AI outputs rely on publishers’ and creators’ content without fair compensation, whether terms tied to Google services disadvantage publishers and rival AI firms, and whether Google’s dominant search position (~90% in Europe) gives it preferential access to training data. Key concerns include opaque or limited opt-out mechanisms that could reduce publishers’ search visibility and barriers that prevent competitors from accessing YouTube content for AI training. Google has argued the complaint could stifle innovation and said it will continue to work with news and creative industries. The probe is part of broader EU scrutiny of big tech and could take months to years; if regulators find competition breaches, remedies could include mandated compensation models, equal access rules for YouTube data, and clearer opt-out and content-use terms. Crypto traders should note potential regulatory spillovers: stricter EU rules on AI training data and content access could affect web traffic patterns, platform monetization, and tokenized creator-economy projects that rely on content distribution or on-chain indexing of web and video data.