Google, Agcom takes AI search to the EU Commission

After information and hearings by Google, Fieg and Fisc, Agcom chose not to close the file at home. The request is transmitted to the European Commission on the basis of Article 65 of the Dsa. A choice, this, already adopted by the German Autority.

Brussels will therefore have to assess whether there are grounds for a possible investigation into possible violations of the obligations for very large platforms and search engines. In the crosshairs: Articles 34 and 35, on the mitigation of systemic risks, and Article 27, on the transparency of recommendation systems.

Back in February, Agcom's president, Giacomo Lasorella, had explained: 'We have been asked about the relationship between the press and Google's AI Mode, the German authority has already done so and we are about to make a report to the European Commission, it is a clear case of impact on information'. He added: 'By going to AI Mode, the risk is that we will no longer read newspapers. There is a risk of compression of the freedom of information and the right of citizens to access multiple sources of information enshrined in Article 3 of the European Freedom Act'.

In the complaint filed by Fieg Google was described as a 'traffic killer' through AI Overviews and AI Mode, tools accused of draining web traffic and vital resources to newspapers. Google has long rejected the accusation that it wants to replace the press. Diego Ciulli, Google's Head of Government Affairs and Public Policy in Italia, had defended the new functions as follows: 'AI Overviews and AI Mode are a natural evolution of the search engine, we are improving the previous way of doing research, not access to information'.

The game will not stop at signalling. At the same meeting, the Agcom Council decided to set up a permanent table between Google, other interested platforms and publishers. Subject: copyright, artificial intelligence, protection of pluralism and fair compensation for the online use of editorial content. This is an attempt to open negotiations while Brussels will consider whether to turn on the regulatory lights.

Fieg, Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali (Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers), in a note expressed 'its appreciation for the decision of the Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (the Italian Communications Authority) to forward, in its capacity as Coordinator for digital services for Italia, a report to the European Commission on Google's AI services'.

The initiative, 'which stems from a petition we submitted last October,' comments FIEG president Andrea Riffeser Monti, 'comes at the end of a detailed and in-depth investigation and bears witness to the Authority's attention to the effects of these systems on traffic to publishing sites and, more generally, on the dynamics of the sector.