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chief executive Neil Vogel accused Google of abusing its market power by using a single web crawler for both its search index and its artificial intelligence products, leaving publishers with no meaningful way to opt out of AI training without sacrificing search traffic.
The remarks, made in Cannes, France, mark one of the most direct public confrontations yet between a major publisher and the search giant. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Bundled Crawler Problem The core of Vogel's complaint is structural.
Because Google runs one crawler that serves both search and AI, publishers who want to block their content from being used in AI products must accept the collateral cost of disappearing from Google search — a channel that remains essential for advertising and affiliate revenue.
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