German Regulator Subjects Google and Perplexity AI to Media Laws

Germany's media regulator has ruled that Google's AI Overviews and the AI-powered search engine Perplexity are subject to the country's media laws, a decision that classifies their AI-generated summaries as original content and exposes them to greater liability.

AI Summaries Classified as Original Content

The Commission for Licensing and Supervision (ZAK), representing Germany’s 14 state media authorities, stated on Tuesday that AI-generated news summaries and chatbot responses are content created by the providers themselves. This classification distinguishes them from simple displays of third-party material, a critical legal difference.

"AI search engines and chatbots are content providers, and we will consistently apply German media law to them from now on," ZAK Chairman Thorsten Schmiege said in a statement. This move signals a significant shift in how regulators view the output of generative AI tools.

Heightened Liability and Legal Precedent

The regulator's decision follows a recent German court ruling in Munich that found Google could be held directly liable for false statements produced by its AI Overview feature. The court reasoned that the AI-produced summaries represent the company's own content.

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Crucially, ZAK asserted that the liability exemption under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) does not apply in these instances. The DSA typically shields platforms from responsibility for illegal user-generated content, but by defining AI output as first-party content, the regulator removes this protection.

Implications for Media Plurality

The German regulator also expressed concern that the prominent placement of AI Overviews within search results unfairly disadvantages traditional media outlets by making standard links less visible. This could impact traffic and revenue for news publishers.

Services like Perplexity could now be classified as media intermediaries, according to the regulator, because they influence the discoverability of news content by selecting and presenting sources. This would subject them to rules designed to safeguard media diversity. Both companies can challenge the decisions through legal channels, the report noted.