Google ordered to let UK publishers opt out of AI search features
Key Points
- The CMA has imposed a conduct requirement on Google search, letting UK publishers opt out of their content powering AI features such as AI Overviews.
- The regulator called the opt-out a world first and said it strengthens publishers' bargaining power in content deals with Google.
- Google must attribute publisher content with clear links in AI-generated search results.
- Publishers can also opt out of their content being used to fine-tune Google's AI models, following consultation feedback.
- The rule applies to Google's May 2026 changes, which made AI Mode the search default and rebuilt the search box.
- Google has nine months to comply and must publish compliance reports every six months in the first year.
- The requirement is the first imposed under the UK digital markets regime, following Google's strategic market status designation in October 2025.
- The CMA said it will announce further action on Google's search business in the coming weeks.
The Competition and Markets Authority has imposed a new rule on Google’s search business that will let UK publishers stop their content being used to power AI features such as AI overviews, in what the regulator described as a world first.
The conduct requirement, imposed on 3 June, follows the CMA’s decision to designate Google with strategic market status in general search. Under that designation the regulator can set targeted rules for Google’s search activities where it judges them proportionate.
Publishers, including news organisations, will now have tools to prevent their material being used in AI-generated search results.
The CMA said this strengthens their hand in negotiating content deals with Google. Google must also attribute publisher content using clear links in those results, a measure the regulator framed as a way to build consumer trust.
After consultation feedback, the CMA added a further provision allowing publishers to opt out of their content being used to fine-tune Google’s AI models. The regulator said this gives publishers control across the full range of AI uses of their work.
The requirement applies to the changes Google announced in May, when the company moved AI further into the core of its search platform.
At its I/O conference on 19 May, Google made AI Mode the global default, rebuilt the search box for conversational prompts, and confirmed persistent background search agents and the expansion of agentic checkout into the UK.
Gemini 3.5 Flash became the default model in AI Mode, and the company said AI Mode and AI Overviews now reach more than one billion and 2.5 billion users respectively.
The CMA said it is assessing how Google implements those changes and will bring forward further measures if needed.
Sarah Cardell, the CMA’s Chief Executive, said the requirement is intended to deliver fair treatment, greater transparency and meaningful choice for businesses and consumers.
She said content publishers need appropriate bargaining power over how their material is used as features like AI Overviews reshape online search, and that the rules are designed to respond to what Google is doing now and in future.
She added that the CMA will announce further action on Google’s search business in the coming weeks.
Google has nine months to implement all the changes, though the CMA expects key controls to reach publishers well before that deadline. Google must also submit and publish compliance reports backed by data and metrics, due every six months for the first year, after which the regulator will review how often they are required.
The conduct requirement is the first to be imposed since the digital markets competition regime took effect.
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 came into force on 1 January 2025. The CMA designated Google with strategic market status in general search and search advertising on 10 October 2025, the first major use of the regime, with the designation running for five years.
It launched a consultation on conduct requirements for Google’s search services on 28 January 2026 and held stakeholder roundtables the following month.
The CMA has opened four strategic market status investigations into Google, Apple and Microsoft, and said the requirement is part of a series of updates on its digital markets work over the coming weeks and months.
The regulator stressed that designating Google with strategic market status does not imply the company has acted anti-competitively.
