Publishers weigh cutting off Google over AI search

Reddit struck a $60 million-a-year deal in 2024 that allowed Google to use its material to train AI models.

Reddit has discussed shutting off Google’s access to its content for AI use as AI-generated answers reduce clicks to outside websites.

USA Today, Politico, the Economist, People Inc., and Reuters are evaluating how or if they will continue to work with Google.

USA Today's organic Google search traffic from U.S. users fell by nearly half between June 2025 and June 2026.

Publishers still allow Google's bot because they generally cannot shut off AI tools without also canceling search access.