On 3 June 2026, the CMA issued its first major Digital Markets decision since giving Google Strategic Market Status in general search. The regulator found that Google’s AI Overviews and other generative search features gave the company too much control over how UK news content was collected, processed and displayed.
CMA secures fairer deal for publishers and improves Google search services in UK – GOV.UK
In short, news publishers must be able to opt out of AI Overviews and stop their material being used to train or fine‑tune Google’s models. When their content does appear in AI‑generated results, Google has to show clear attribution and a link that is easy to spot. It must also provide engagement data for any publisher material surfaced through AI features and publish plain‑language explanations of how that material is gathered and used.
Google has nine months to make all of this happen, with progress reports expected along the way. There is no automatic right of appeal. Any challenge has to go through judicial review, which focuses on whether the CMA followed the correct process rather than whether Google agrees with the outcome.
For UK news publishers, the decision restores a degree of control over how their work is used in AI‑powered search. For other creative sectors, the implications are more indirect but still worth watching. The ruling doesn’t apply to film, books, games, design or photography, but it does show that the CMA is prepared to step in when AI systems start absorbing and reshaping creative material at scale.
“Promising signs here, even if confined to news publishers for now. It gives them a little more control over how their work is handled in the AI environment. Not quite a turning point but it does hopefully mark a first – tender steps in the right direction” Florian Koempel, BCC