Reddit and a growing number of news publishers are reportedly mulling whether to cut off Google’s access to their sites as the Big Tech giant’s controversial AI search summaries siphon web traffic.
Reddit, which previously inked a $60 million per year deal which permitted Google to use its online message boards to train AI models, has grown disillusioned with the search giant’s tactics and is debating whether the agreement is worth it, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
USA Today, Politico, Reuters and The Economist are also reconsidering their ties to Google over its use of AI-generated “overviews” – which are placed at the top of search results instead of links to outside outlets in what critics have called an existential threat to online publishers.
“It’s time to take a stand and say enough is enough,” said USA Today CEO Mike Reed told the Journal.
Google search traffic from US users to USA Today plummeted by nearly half over the 12 months ending in June 2026, according to data compiled by Semrush. Traffic plunged 23% for Politico and by more than 85% for Business Insider, the report found.
USA Today – which is already suing Google for alleging operating a monopoly over digital advertising technology – is considering cutting off Google’s access to its articles for AI training. That would also mean its articles would no longer appear in search results.
Politico, which is owned by publishing giant Axel Springer, has discussed blocking Google and other bots from accessing its non-paywalled articles, according to the report. Reuters is also considering limits.
“We are certainly looking at the economic trade-offs between search and AI summaries,” Reuters President Paul Bascobert told the Journal.
A Google spokesperson pushed back on the criticism, asserting that publishers are able to opt out of allowing their sites to be used for training its Gemini AI models without removing themselves from search.
“Google’s AI Search features send billions of clicks to the web every week, meeting people’s evolving preferences for how they want to find information while driving significant traffic to websites,” the spokesperson said.
“Our AI features highlight links to the web and help creators and publishers grow their audiences, and we offer clear controls for website owners to manage their content.”
Meanwhile, Google has turned up the heat on news publishers.
In June, The Information reported that the company was pitching news publishers on a pilot program to have their sites featured in AI Overviews – but only if they agreed to allow sweeping access to their content for AI training.
