European Publishers Council welcomes opinion in Google case before the European Court of Justice
European Publishers Council welcomed elements of Advocate General Szpunar’s opinion in Like Company v Google Ireland (Case C‑250/25) before the European Court of Justice, while questioning whether part of the proposed interpretation could affect publishers’ ability to control and licence the use of their journalism by artificial‑intelligence (AI) services.
EPC Executive Director Angela Mills Wade said the opinion “recognises several important principles: making journalism freely accessible does not mean consenting to its use by AI chatbots, and simply re‑wording an article does not necessarily remove the need for a publisher’s authorisation. His reasoning also supports the recognition of clear rights reservations in website terms, including those expressed in natural language, which modern AI technology is capable of understanding.” She added that the opinion “exposes a fundamental problem for rights holders: how can publishers enforce their rights when they lack the information needed to establish whether and how their journalism has been used? The absence of evidence of use is not necessarily evidence that no use has occurred. Effective copyright protection requires meaningful transparency, traceability and the ability to verify how protected content is exploited by AI services and this is exactly what EPC has been calling for under the AI Act and its Code of Practice.”
The council welcomed the view that AI services must not circumvent effective technical measures, such as paywalls or bot‑blocking controls, and that publishers should be able to enforce those restrictions without sacrificing visibility in search. It also said it supports a market for voluntary, negotiated licensing that enables AI innovation while preserving publishers’ control over how their content is accessed and used.
The EPC noted that the issue extends beyond individual articles or technologies because the use of journalism by AI services could affect the public’s access to reliable, independent news. No response from Advocate General Szpunar or Google Ireland was included in the source.
