Media alert: Google changes Discover, traffic falls and the crisis of journalism in the open web deepens

In recent days, multiple media outlets have reported sharp traffic drops from Google Discover, coinciding with a substantial change in the way Google presents content: it is now expanding the use of AI-generated summaries both in Search and in Discover. This change is directly affecting media visibility and, therefore, their economic sustainability.

According to Laboratorio de Periodismo, Google is increasingly showing “AI summaries” without the user needing to click through to any external site, which drastically reduces traffic sent to media outlets, even if the article has good quality and ranking.

What is happening?

• Google replaces links to media outlets in Discover and Search with AI-generated responses.

• Media outlets around the world report traffic drops of between 30% and 70% in Discover since  the second week of July.

• This especially affects medium-sized, local, or specialized outlets that depend on organic traffic.

A deeper trend: is the web being “eaten” by AI?

The magazine The Economist put it bluntly in its July 14 issue:

“AI is killing the web. Can anyone save it?”

According to its analysis, we are entering an era where language models replace news media as the primary interface for accessing knowledge, which puts at risk the ecosystem that allowed the Internet to work for decades:

• Content produced by humans.

• Indexed by search engines.

• Monetized (precariously) through advertising.

• Accessible from multiple sources.

Now, platforms use that content as input to generate their own responses, without redistributing the value or sending traffic onward. In other words: media outlets inform, AI summarizes, Google capitalizes on it.

What can we do from Medios Federales?

• Review your own data: Analyze your traffic in Google Analytics and Search Console. Pay special attention to the evolution of Discover, CTR, and mobile traffic.

• Strengthen the direct channel: Newsletters, apps, push notifications, and direct presence on social media are more important than ever.

• Protect editorial visibility: Content has to reach the audience without going through opaque filters. At Medios Federales, we encourage cooperation among media outlets to regain control of the relationship with the audience.

• Report this monopolistic practice: Google is not only concentrating traffic, it is now beginning to replace media outlets in the very interface used to access information.

If your outlet was affected, write to us. We are working on a collaborative report to make the impact of these changes visible across the Medios Federales network and to demand fair conditions.

What is at stake is not just traffic: it is the existence of an open, plural, and sustainable web, in the face of a closed model controlled by a few platforms that appropriate content and value.

And now what?

Google has let media outlets down.
After years of technological and economic dependence, media outlets now have the opportunity —and the need— to regain sovereignty. It is no longer necessary to keep using Google’s ad server or sustain a model that prioritizes its own interests over the editorial ecosystem.
From Medios Federales, we are building an open, independent, and federated programmatic alternative. There is a way out, and it is collective

If you are part of a media outlet, a sales network, or an agency, we invite you to talk. The transition is already underway and we want to walk it together.