News Media Europe voices concerns about competition in generative AI in its response to a consultation of the European Commission. You can find our full submission here.

This nascent and disruptive technology must be embraced as it is key to unlock growth and innovation in the media sector.

Unfortunately, News Media Europe and its members see a tipping market that entrenches the position of big tech incumbents. The consequences of this in digital markets are well-known as they create bottlenecks and inefficiencies which have in other cases justified the DMA approach.

We also identify risks of disintermediation and the rise of “partnerships” (eg. Microsoft OpenAI & Mistral) designed to escape merger scrutiny and entrench the market power of gatekeepers. While protecting nascent industries should be a priority, this must not happen at the expense of future competition.

GenAI must not become an opaque space where big tech and new entrants collectively 1) engage in anti-competitive conduct, 2) insulate themselves from meaningful competition and 3) create a regulatory race to the bottom. The stakes are simply too high.

Our sector is concerned that GAIs could further lead to a heightened competition between publishers who are genuinely committed to producing valuable articles to inform citizens in line with deontological practice and GAI providers with little to no adherence to journalistic values.

We’re calling on the Commission to launch a market investigation under the DMA and a sector inquiry in cooperation with the new AI Office. The latter should help uncover harms at the intersection of competition and copyright laws.

Contact: Iacob Gammeltoft