Google Might Be Learning the Facebook Lesson
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Intro
Google has been facing a lot of criticism and, in many cases, deservedly so.
First came AI Overviews. Then AI Mode.
Features that few people were asking for, but Google had to prove it wasn't falling behind in the AI race after OpenAI launched first using the Transformer architecture that originated from Google's own research.
And the data reflects the sentiment.
Since May 2024, searches from people looking for ways to turn off AI Overviews have been steadily increasing. Just facts. The trend peaked around April–May 2026.
Maybe the people actively searching for ways to remove AI Overviews are a minority. But I suspect many more are simply quietly dissatisfied.
You know who else is dissatisfied? Publishers.
I don't think I've ever seen this level of audacity toward publishers. AI platforms are using content they didn't create to train their models and perform live searches, then assembling answers that compete directly with the very sites that produced that content, taking away the clicks those publishers depend on.
Google says it’s putting users first. I’m not convinced.
To me, the goal isn’t just to help users find information really. It’s to keep users inside Google’s own ecosystem for as long as possible. That’s what this is really about.
And let’s not forget...
Google spent years lecturing all of us about E-E-A-T.
Publishers, SEOs, and content creators have been told to create “helpful content” that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. We audited pages, rewrote articles, added author bios, cited sources, and jumped through every hoop because that’s what Google said good information should look like.
Then Google turned around and gave us AI Overviews.
A system that has repeatedly produced inaccurate or misleading information.
I could pause here and start talking about OpenAI and Anthropic. They aren’t exactly better when it comes to how they use other people’s content either.
But to keep this conversation focused, I’ll stick with Google today.
I think Google is up for a wakeup call.
Even tech giants can stumble, and history has a funny way of repeating itself in unexpected ways.
A challenging echo system
A lot of businesses have been impacted over the years with Google updates and a lot of websites lost traffic but none of it is equivalent to what we are seeing today.
Reddit is reportedly considering not renewing its $60 million deal with Google, which allowed Google to access Reddit content to train its AI models.
Reddit’s stated concern is that Google isn’t sending enough traffic back to the platform.
That argument is a little hard to take at face value, considering Reddit has become one of the most visible domains in Google Search results. Reddit threads appear everywhere now, often ranking prominently for product reviews, recommendations, and real user experiences.
And then we have publishers. Google said that it “sends billions of clicks to websites every week through AI search.” but also does not provide the data to verify this in GSC, and publishers are seeing declines in their traffic, the traffic they rely on to generate revenue through ads, subscriptions, and other business models.
Hence, a lot of publishers are considering blocking Google.
And just as Google is facing all of these challenges, SerpApi out of nowhere gets a Google lawsuit dismissed.
You see, Google had the audacity to sue SerpApi for copyright infringement because SerpApi was crawling Google.
Yes, you read that right… do not laugh, please. 😂
Google literally crawls every single website on the internet.
At least when SerpApi crawled Google, they weren’t taking clicks and revenue away from publishers.
Justice was served, and the court ruled that there was no copyrighted material to begin with. 😂😂😂
So some users are not happy, publishers are definitely not happy, Reddit is pushing back, and Google SERPs have been declared as non-copyrighted.
My 2 cents: as these incidents continue and more pressure builds on Google, something has to give. Google will eventually have to find ways to compensate publishers… right?
You may say, “Sara, you’re a small content creator. What do you know?”
Fair enough.
But I do know a thing or two from my startup days.
Hear me out.
Once upon a time
Do you remember when Facebook reduced the organic reach of pages from around 25% to somewhere between 1%–5%?
The goal was clear: push more businesses toward paid advertising and increase ad revenue.
But what happened over time?
Content creators slowed down. Pages became less active. The platform became far less engaging and, at times, almost felt like a digital desert.
I remember back in 2015 suggesting that Facebook should allow people to make money from creating great content on pages.
Without active publishers and creators, platforms risk becoming less engaging and less valuable because the content that keeps users coming back depends on those creators.
and turns out, that wasn’t such a crazy idea.
It took Facebook years to realize it, but eventually they started paying publishers and creators to keep producing content.
Facebook paid out nearly $3 billion to creators in 2025. Of those $3 billion in payouts, 60% went to Reels while the rest went to Stories, photos and text posts.
The lesson? Platforms need creators just as much as creators need platforms.
Maybe Google isn’t there yet, maybe they need to go through the same journey as Facebook to realize that. But they will eventually get there, if publishers and creators are not happy, the platform slowly starts to die.
And That’s a Wrap (Almost 😄)
If you’re a publisher, try to navigate this challenging period.
Because there will come a point when Google and other platforms realize that publishers are not just content suppliers, they are essential partners in their success.
And at some point, they will have to find a way to give back as much as they take.
That’s that for today folks and see you in the next newsletter!
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Disclaimer: LLMs were used to assist in wording and phrasing this blog.