Turkey's Competition Authority Opens Probe Into Google AI Summaries

Turkey's Competition Authority has launched an investigation into Google over its Search-based AI summaries and AI Mode, both of which are available in Turkey. The authority announced the move through its official account on X.

According to the announcement, the probe stems from the fact that users looking up current events on Google can now get information from AI summaries without ever visiting a news site. The authority said it is concerned that this could reduce publishers' visitor traffic and revenue, and that this concern prompted it to act.

What the probe is based on: fears of lost news traffic

The central point in the authority's post is that users can obtain information from AI summaries in search results without clicking through to news sites. The authority worries this could erode those sites' traffic and income.

The headline of the post also referred to a "fair sharing" measure concerning Google's AI summaries. However, no details have been released so far about the scope of the investigation, which practices will be examined, or what the possible outcomes might be.

Reddit CEO's view on traffic

The issue was raised by another figure around the same time. Last week, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said that Google's AI-based content summarization systems and tools in search do not deliver traffic, contrary to what has been claimed. In his words: "The truth is, AI Mode isn't sending traffic. Not to us, and not to anyone else that I know of."

Huffman also described this as a fundamental shift in how Google works: Google used to be a source of traffic, and no longer is. His assessment has not been directly linked to the authority's investigation, but it shows that the debate over the effect of AI summaries on websites is also being voiced by a major platform like Reddit.

Background: AI summaries and AI Mode

Google shows short, AI-generated summaries in Search results for some queries. AI Mode is a separate search experience in which users can ask more complex questions and receive conversational answers. Both features aim to pull together information from multiple sources into a single response.

In traditional search results, users clicked links to reach source sites directly, whereas summaries can reduce the need to do so. That is precisely where the authority's concern lies.

How the investigation will proceed and how Google will respond should become clearer in the coming period. For now, all that is known is that the authority has opened an investigation and briefly shared its rationale; no official statement has been made on its scope, timeline or possible penalties.