Google ordered to put clearer links in AI search and let UK publishers opt out

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority ordered Google to provide clearer attribution and links to publisher content in its AI-generated search features and to let publishers opt out of those features without penalty [1]. The CMA said the decision marks “a world first” that gives publishers “effective tools to prevent their content being used to power AI features in search, such as AI Overviews” [1]. The regulator added that the requirements “will put publishers, like news organizations, in a stronger position to negotiate content deals with Google” [1]. Google must also ensure publisher content is “properly attributed, using clear links, in AI‑generated search results” [1]. The conduct requirement, formally imposed under the UK’s digital markets regime, follows the CMA’s October 2025 designation of Google as having “strategic market status” in general search services [3]. The regulator has parallel investigations open into Apple and Microsoft [1]. Google said it will comply with the decision [1]. Under the final order, Google cannot downrank publishers that opt out in its general search results [1]. The CMA gave the company nine months to meet all obligations but said it “expects important parts of the controls to become available to publishers well before that deadline” [1]. Google will also be required to submit and publish compliance reports backed by key data and metrics [1]. Google had previously resisted giving publishers granular control over how their content appears in AI search features [4]. During the proceeding, the company told the CMA that “excessive attribution of lots of sources may worsen the user experience and lead to fewer clicks; not more” but acknowledged that “too little attribution and publishers may decide to opt out, depriving Google of their content for grounding Search genAI features” [2]. In response to the UK directive, Google announced it is beginning to test a new toggle in Search Console that lets website owners manage how their links and content appear in generative AI Search features, including AI Overviews, AI Mode, and AI Overviews in Discover [2]. Sites that opt out will not receive traffic or impressions from those features, and Google said the control “will not be used as a ranking signal for search results outside of these generative AI Search features” [2]. The company is also providing impression metrics and information about which pages appear in AI responses and in which countries, initially rolling the data out “to a subset of website owners in the UK” before a global launch [2]. Some stakeholders argued during the CMA’s consultation that an opt-out remedy would be insufficient and that Google should be required to seek explicit opt-in consent from publishers, drawing comparisons to the EU’s Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market [3]. The CMA’s final decision document noted that publishers have historically consented to Google’s crawling of copyrighted content for the limited purpose of display and linking in search results, and that use of that content within generative AI services goes beyond that original scope [3].