Germany’s media regulator, ZAK, ruled that Google’s AI Overviews and Perplexity are subject to the country’s media laws, treating AI-generated summaries and chatbot answers as content the providers create themselves rather than third-party material, according to Reuters. ZAK, which represents Germany’s 14 state media authorities, said the EU Digital Services Act’s liability shield does not apply and that prominently displayed AI Overviews unfairly disadvantage third-party media by pushing traditional link lists down the page. Chairman Thorsten Schmiege said the regulator will now consistently apply media law to AI search engines and chatbots, following a Munich court ruling that Google could be directly liable for false statements from AI Overviews, a decision Google plans to appeal.
