Aniket PujariThe European Union’s (EU) antitrust regulator, the European Commission, has opened up an investigation into the US-based search engine and technology giant, Google, alleging that the company has abused its market dominance using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to squeeze competitors, reported the news agency Bloomberg on Tuesday, 9 December 2025.
According to the agency report, the European Commission said that the regulator will investigate whether Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., has distorted its competition by allegedly imposing unfair terms on content creators.
The antitrust watchdog will also reportedly investigate whether the company is giving its own AI model a competitive advantage over its rival tech companies.
The EU will also probe into the extent to which Google is using ‘AI Overviews’ and its ‘AI Mode’ based on the web publisher’ content and whether they are paid appropriately for the same.
What does EU say?
European Union’s Antitrust Commissioner highlighted that this move is an effort to protect the online press and other content creators in order to maintain fair competition in the emerging AI markets.
“This case is once again a strong signal of our commitment to protecting the online press and other content creators, and to ensuring fair competition in emerging AI markets,” EU Antitrust Commissioner Teresa Ribera said in a speech in Brussels on Tuesday, cited the news agency.
$3.4 billion EU penalty threat
According to an earlier report from the news agency, Google in November 2025 offered to change its ad tech products and search results in an effort to settle the $3.4 billion penalty threat.
The US-based tech giant has been under EU’s radar since March 2025, after allegations emerged over the company favouring its services like Google Shopping, Google Hotels and Google Flights over other competitors in the market.
In order to avoid the billion-dollar penalty, Google’s parent Alphabet disclosed that the company is set to give publishers the option to set different minimum prices for bidders on Google’s Ad Manager platform, reported Bloomberg on 14 November 2025.
According to the agency report, the company was also prepared to improve its interoperability across its ad tech services in an effort to give its publishers and advertisers more flexibility of choice while using Google services.
Teresa Ribera earlier said that the only level playing field for Google would be to divest the unspecified parts of its ad tech arm after dealing with the penalties imposed by the Commission and implementing the fixes, which have increased due to the alleged antitrust violations.
However, Google’s stance remains unchanged as the company still disagrees with the European antitrust watchdog’s September decision and the tech giant plans to appeal against it.
