The decision forms part of the CMA’s designation of Google Search and Advertising as having Strategic Market Status (SMS). Under the UK’s new digital markets regime, this designation gives the CMA powers to introduce Conduct Requirements aimed at addressing the effects of Google’s market dominance.
The PPA has been actively engaged throughout the process, providing evidence to the CMA and working closely with members to ensure publisher perspectives were reflected in the final framework.
The new Publisher Conduct Requirement will require Google to provide publishers with a control that determines whether their content can be used within AI-powered search features, including AI Mode and AI Overviews.
The PPA welcomes the CMA’s decision to adopt a number of recommendations put forward by publishers, including measures relating to fine-tuning and page-level controls. However, the regulator has not adopted key recommendations around introducing controls on a per-feature and per-purpose basis.
As a result, publishers will not be able to manage participation across individual AI search products separately. Instead, a single control will apply across AI Mode, AI Overviews and other AI-powered search features. Similarly, a single control will apply across crawling, training and grounding activities, rather than allowing publishers to make separate decisions for each use case.
Saj Merali, CEO, PPA commented:
“As AI continues to reshape how people discover and consume information, it is vital that publishers of trusted journalism and the editorial brands they serve, have meaningful control over how their content is used and a fair opportunity to negotiate when that content creates value for others.
In this latest announcement, the CMA has recognised the importance of original journalism and professionally produced content, as well as the investment publishers make in creating it. The introduction of greater transparency, attribution and publisher controls will help rebalance the relationship between platforms and content creators at a critical moment for the industry.
However, while it is positive that publishers will be able to opt out of having their content used to fine-tune Google’s AI models, it is disappointing that the control will not be per feature or per purpose. Publishers will have to decide whether their content will be on all search AI features or none of them- and if they decide to allow Google to train on their content, then there is no way of opting out specifically of grounding.
Publishers need to understand not only when their content is being used, but also how it is being used. They should have a genuine choice over whether their content is available on different AI search products, particularly where those responses may reduce the incentive for users to visit the original source.
The CMA’s commitment to continue monitoring developments in AI-powered search is therefore particularly important. We await the final decisions on fair rankings and user choice, which will play a key role in shaping the future relationship between publishers, platforms and audiences. The PPA will continue to work closely with the CMA, Google and our members to ensure the final regime delivers meaningful publisher control, recognises the value of trusted content, and supports a sustainable future for high-quality journalism and editorial brands.”
The CMA has given Google up to nine months to implement the required changes, although it has indicated that it expects publisher controls to be introduced ahead of that deadline.
The PPA has also sought further clarification from the CMA on the operation of page-level controls and is engaging with relevant stakeholders to better understand how the new controls will work in practice.
We will continue to keep members informed. If you have any questions or would like to discuss the decision in more detail, please get in touch with the PPA team.