Turkey’s Competition Board has opened an investigation into Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode search features and ordered interim measures to protect news publishers while the case runs, according to the Turkish Competition Authority’s announcement as reported by state broadcaster TRT Haber on 2 November.
The investigation concerns Article 6 of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition, the article that prohibits abuse of a dominant position, Forbes Türkiye and Diken report. By our count, the interim order sets three conditions for how Google treats publishers’ content in the two AI features.
The key insight: Turkey’s Competition Board opened an abuse-of-dominance investigation into Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode on 2 November and, by our count, set three interim conditions on how Google uses news publishers’ content in them, according to TRT Haber’s report of the Competition Authority’s announcement.
The investigation covers the economic unit made up of Alphabet Inc, Google Ireland Limited, Google LLC, Google International LLC and Google Reklamcılık ve Pazarlama Ltd. Şti., according to TRT Haber. Forbes Türkiye says the Board opened it after completing a preliminary inquiry that began in August.
TRT Haber lists the questions the preliminary inquiry looked at. The first is how AI Overviews and AI Mode change the way users reach information, and whether that hurts traffic to news publishers and other content producers. The second is whether terms in Google’s content-use agreements with news publishers amount to unfair contract terms.
The third is whether the two features have an exclusionary effect on news publishers, other content producers and AI chat assistants. The fourth is whether Google treats publishers differently when it selects their content as a source in the features or signs licensing agreements for that content.
Change in Google organic search traffic to more than 2,500 news sites, November 2024 to November 2025 (Chartbeat data), and publishers’ expected change over the next three years (survey, n=268). Source: Reuters Institute, Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026. The report says it is not clear how much of the fall is due to AI Overviews.
What the Interim Order Requires
According to TRT Haber, the Board found that the signs of conduct it described as discriminatory and exploitative toward news publishers had reached the level of strong suspicion. That finding is the basis for the interim measures, which apply while the investigation continues.
The order requires Google to set conditions that do not discriminate between news publishers, that reflect the economic value of using their content, and that let publishers make their choices about content use in these services independently of their visibility and indexing in other Google services, TRT Haber reports.
Forbes Türkiye describes the practical effect: under the order, Google cannot force news sites into its AI system, and publishers that do not allow their content to be used in AI Overviews keep their visibility and indexing in normal search results. It says Google must put fair conditions in place without delay.
Business Pill · Distribution Advantage
An evergreen Business Engineer explainer on distribution advantage. It explains the general idea only and does not discuss Google or this investigation.
Why Publishers Pushed for It
Diken reports that in March 2025 a group of Turkish outlets called on the Competition Authority to act, saying traffic from Google’s Discover and News services had fallen sharply at some news sites. The group included Diken, Artı Gerçek, BirGün, Ekonomim, Gazete Pencere, Kısa Dalga, Medyascope, T24 and İlke TV. Diken says that if a violation is found, Google could face an administrative fine and obligations to end it.
The Institute’s Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 report says Chartbeat data show Google organic search traffic to more than 2,500 news sites fell by a third, 33%, between November 2024 and November 2025, and by 38% in the United States. Publishers it surveyed expect search traffic to fall 43% over the next three years.
The report says it is not clear how much of the decline is down to AI Overviews, and that AI Mode is available in 120 markets.
As we read the order, its third condition goes to how publishers choose: TRT Haber reports that their choices on content use in the AI features must be independent of their visibility and indexing in other Google services.
As we read the reports, the case puts licensing terms under review as well as traffic: the Board says it will look at whether Google treats publishers differently when it selects their content as a source or signs licensing agreements for it.
Reuters Institute, Journalism, Media and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026, on Chartbeat data for over 2,500 sites
“it is not clear how much of this is down to AI overviews”
Three Implications
FOR GOOGLE Diken reports that if a violation is found, Google could face an administrative fine and obligations to end it; the interim order applies while the investigation runs.
FOR TURKISH PUBLISHERS Forbes Türkiye says that under the order publishers that do not allow AI use of their content keep their visibility and indexing in normal search results.
FOR PUBLISHERS ELSEWHERE The Reuters Institute reports Google organic search traffic to more than 2,500 news sites fell 33% between November 2024 and November 2025, and 38% in the United States.
The framework reads: “The Barbelled Distribution Economy — value concentrates at the extremes (massive-scale platforms and deep-niche specialists); the middle hollows out.”
As we read it, the Turkish case asks a regulator to set terms between a platform at one end of that barbell and the publishers who supply its AI answers. The framework is the owner’s argument and does not discuss Google or Turkey.
We read the Competition Authority’s announcement as reported by TRT Haber, Forbes Türkiye and Diken; the Authority’s own website did not load for us. We found no response from Google in the coverage we read. No finding of a violation has been made and no fine has been set; the investigation is open. The coverage does not give a deadline for the investigation or say how compliance with the interim order will be checked.
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Turkey’s Competition Board has opened an abuse-of-dominance investigation into Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode. By our count, its interim order sets three conditions on how Google uses news publishers’ content in them.
Those conditions are no discrimination between publishers, terms that reflect the content’s economic value, and a choice on AI use that does not cost publishers their visibility or indexing elsewhere in Google, according to TRT Haber’s report.
A note on sourcing. The investigation and interim measures are as announced by the Turkish Competition Authority and reported in Turkish by TRT Haber, Forbes Türkiye and Diken on 2 November 2026; translations are ours. Traffic figures come from the Reuters Institute’s 2026 Trends and Predictions report. The counts of questions and conditions are ours.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
