New requirements in the U.K. look to give online publishers more leverage in negotiations with Google, while in Germany, a court has ruled that the company can be held liable for false statements in its AI Overviews.

By Andrew Richard Albanese, Editor-in-Chief

Two significant developments this week have targeted Google’s AI-generated summaries that now appear at the top of the company’s search results

In the U.K., the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) this week imposed a new conduct requirement for Google search requiring the company must now allow content providers to “opt out” of having their content appear in Google’s AI summaries. And in Germany, the Regional Court of Munich has ruled that Google can be held liable for false information that appears in its AI overviews.

U.K. authorities said the new action will help put online publishers—especially news organizations—in “a stronger position to negotiate content deals with Google.” In addition, the CMA also implemented a requirement that Google must ensure that “publisher content is properly attributed, using clear links, in AI‑generated search results,” a move regulators said will boost consumer trust.

“With features like AI Overviews rapidly reshaping online search, it is crucial that content publishers, including news organizations, have appropriate bargaining power over how their content is used. At the same time, these measures will help tens of millions of UK search users better understand and trust the information presented to them,” said CMA CEO Sarah Cardell, in a statement. “We’ll also continue to use the unique flexibility of the U.K. regime to monitor and address future concerns as they arise and we will be announcing further action in relation to Google’s search business in the coming weeks.”

Cardell said Google will have nine months to implement the changes, but that the “important parts” of the new controls should be available sooner.

In post on its blog, Google reps said its AI Overviews featuer now has over “2.5 billion monthly active users,” while AI Mode “has surpassed one billion monthly users,” with users “asking Search entirely new kinds of questions, creating new opportunities for brands, publishers and creators to reach people.”

Google reps also said the company was “actively listening to feedback from publishers and creators, and engaging with regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to ensure website owners have the right tools as user preferences evolve.”

Meanwhile, in Germany, Ars Technica reports on a German court ruling that found Google to be directly liable for false statements in AI Overviews—a decision the outlet said could potentially impact “all AI search engines and chatbots known to poorly paraphrase source links.”

First reported by The Decoder, the underlying case involves two publishers that accused Google’s AI Overviews of falsely linking them to dubious business practices. But unlike traditional search, which presents links to relevant information, the court held that Google’s AI Overviews were liable because they presented their own “independent, new, and substantive statements” and that the false statements were “capable of impacting public opinion.”

It remains unclear if Google will appeal. At press time, a Google spokesperson told Ars Technica that the company is “carefully reviewing this decision, which is not yet final.”