Google’s AI Overviews feature — the company’s much-hyped generative search tool — is now under formal antitrust scrutiny in Europe, after a coalition of independent publishers filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging the system is “abusing dominance” and devastating the online news ecosystem.

The complaint, filed by a group known as the Independent Publishers Alliance and supported by advocacy group Movement for an Open Web and legal campaigners Foxglove, accuses Google of misusing web content to power its AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, effectively cutting publishers out of the value chain.

“It’s clear: independent news faces an existential threat,” said Rosa Curling of Foxglove. “Google’s AI Overviews scrape and summarize the work of journalists and publishers without permission, diverting readers away and crushing the business model of news.”

The group is now demanding interim measures from EU competition regulators to temporarily halt or restrict Google’s AI Overviews while the complaint is being investigated.

AI Overviews and the ‘Zero-Click’ Surge

At the heart of the complaint is the growing trend of zero-click searches — queries that no longer result in users visiting external websites. Since the launch of Google’s AI Overviews in May 2024, the number of news-related searches that end without a click-through to a publisher has surged from 56% to nearly 69%, according to data from digital intelligence firm Similarweb.

The effects are already rippling across the industry. Organic traffic to news sites, once driven largely by search engine referrals, has plunged. At its peak in mid-2024, news sites were receiving over 2.3 billion visits per month via search. By May 2025, that figure had fallen below 1.7 billion.

These declines come at a time when AI is becoming the first stop for users seeking not just facts but context, summaries, and background information — needs traditionally filled by publishers.

No Real Opt-Out

One of the key arguments in the antitrust complaint is that Google gives publishers no meaningful choice. While technically a publisher can opt out of having their content used in AI Overviews, doing so would remove them from general Google search results altogether — a move that amounts to digital invisibility for most.

“You either let Google use your content to train and feed its AI, or you disappear from search entirely,” said one publisher backing the complaint. “That’s not consent. That’s coercion.”

The Alliance says this practice violates competition rules by forcing publishers into a lose-lose scenario: contribute free labor to a product that competes with their own, or face total marginalization.

Google’s Response

Google defended its AI Overviews feature in a statement to Reuters, saying the new AI experiences “enable people to ask even more questions, which creates new opportunities for content and businesses to be discovered.” It also disputed the data cited in the complaint, arguing that traffic patterns are shaped by a “variety of reasons,” including seasonality and user trends.

The tech giant maintains that it sends billions of clicks to publishers every day, and that AI Overviews are designed to enhance — not replace — the discovery of content online.

A Wider Regulatory Storm

The complaint is the latest in a growing wave of regulatory actions and lawsuits confronting AI-driven search. A similar complaint has been filed with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. In the U.S., textbook and ed-tech company Chegg filed a lawsuit earlier this year, accusing Google’s AI Overviews of diverting traffic away from its educational resources.

Meanwhile, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in Europe is tightening scrutiny over platform dominance, with Google already facing probes into whether it is unfairly favoring its own services over rivals.

If the European Commission agrees to impose interim measures, Google could be forced to suspend or radically modify how AI Overviews function within EU territory — a move that would mark one of the most significant regulatory pushbacks against generative AI so far.

Winners and Losers in the AI Era

While AI Overviews appear to be draining traffic from traditional news sites, not every publisher is faring equally. Similarweb data shows that ChatGPT — OpenAI’s competing AI tool — is driving rising traffic to some news outlets, although not at a scale that replaces losses from Google Search.

Between January 2024 and May 2025, ChatGPT referrals to news sites rose from under 1 million to over 25 million, with top gainers including Reuters (up 8.9%), New York Post (7.1%), and Business Insider (6.5%). The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI over content scraping, saw a smaller increase of 3.1%.

ChatGPT-related news prompts also surged 212% over the same period, driven by growing interest in finance, sports, politics, and the economy.

But these gains remain a fraction of what publishers have lost overall. Many newsrooms have already implemented layoffs or shut down entirely. Others are scrambling to adopt alternative revenue models — from subscriptions and paywalls to Google’s Offerwall tool, which encourages micropayments or newsletter signups instead of ad-dependent clickbait.

A Fight for the Future of Journalism

At stake in this battle is not just the fate of one Google feature but the sustainability of independent journalism in the AI age.

By harvesting and rephrasing publisher content into bite-sized summaries, AI Overviews — critics argue — not only erode traffic and ad revenue but risk turning original reporting into a kind of invisible scaffolding for Google’s own products.

The European Commission has not yet publicly responded to the complaint, but its handling of the case could set a global precedent for how AI platforms must treat — and potentially compensate — the creators whose work fuels their models.

After nearly three years of restrictions driven by severe foreign exchange (FX) shortages, several major Nigerian commercial banks have resumed international transactions on Naira-denominated debit cards — a move signaling renewed confidence in Nigeria’s FX market and the Central Bank’s management of foreign currency flows.

Customers of top-tier institutions such as Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), United Bank for Africa (UBA), Wema Bank, and others are once again able to use their Naira debit cards for payments on global platforms like Amazon, Netflix, Apple, and Spotify. However, the restored access comes with capped quarterly spending limits, with thresholds that vary by bank and, in some cases, even by customer.

GTBank was among the first to notify its customers, confirming in an email on Friday that its Naira Mastercard now supports international transactions, with a quarterly spending limit of $1,000. This ceiling includes all categories — ATM withdrawals, POS transactions abroad, and online purchases. ATM withdrawals alone are capped at $500 quarterly.

Curiously, not all GTBank customers are receiving the same limit. Bashir Ahmad, former media aide to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, revealed via his X (formerly Twitter) account that his card was reactivated with a $4,000 quarterly limit, highlighting an unexplained inconsistency. GTBank has yet to officially clarify the criteria behind these varied thresholds, but many suspect they are based on account type, transaction volume, or customer profile.

UBA also announced the reactivation of international usage for its Premium Naira Cards, including Gold, Platinum, and World variants, stating customers could now “shop globally, swipe at POS machines abroad, and withdraw at ATMs internationally.”

Wema Bank followed with its own update, notifying customers that their Naira Mastercards were now “global,” granting them access to international platforms without the need for domiciliary accounts or virtual dollar cards.

For ordinary Nigerians, this development is a long-awaited relief. Since 2022, customers have faced mounting difficulties in paying for foreign services like Twitter Premium, iCloud storage, and Spotify subscriptions. Many resorted to third-party fintech platforms offering virtual dollar cards, often at premium rates and with additional risks.

The resumption of international functionality means greater convenience and lower dependency on intermediaries. It also marks a potential revenue rebound for global platforms whose Nigerian user bases had been cut off from seamless payment options during the card suspension period.

What Enabled the Return?

The decision to restore international transactions wasn’t spontaneous. Analysts attribute the shift to a marked improvement in Nigeria’s FX environment. According to Ayokunle Olubunmi, head of financial institutions ratings at Agusto & Co, the move is backed by better liquidity in the FX market and a reduced gap between the official and parallel market rates, which had previously encouraged arbitrage and speculation.

Charles Sanni, CEO of Cowry Treasurers, echoed the sentiment. “The naira has continued to appreciate against major currencies, diaspora remittances are rising, and new CBN policies are allowing non-residents — especially Nigerians abroad — to open accounts with ease,” he told The Cable.

Sanni added that renewed investor confidence, clearing of FX backlogs, the launch of a new FX trading platform, rising global oil prices, and efforts to recapitalize banks are all factors supporting the policy reversal.

A Recap of the Restrictions

Between 2022 and 2023, nearly every major bank halted international transactions using Naira cards as Nigeria’s dollar reserves came under immense pressure. In July 2022, Standard Chartered was the first to suspend global transactions on its Naira Visa debit card. First Bank followed in September, while GTBank, Zenith Bank, and others joined by January 2023.

The withdrawal of service came just before the 2023 general elections, at a time when foreign exchange demand skyrocketed and supply faltered. The CBN struggled to meet dollar obligations, leaving banks with little choice but to ration FX usage. Fintechs like Flutterwave and Eversend also suspended virtual dollar card services during the same period.

With GTBank, UBA, and Wema Bank leading the way, industry observers expect other commercial banks to resume international Naira card transactions soon. The competition among banks to retain and attract retail customers, especially high-net-worth clients and frequent travelers, is expected to accelerate the process.

The resumption of Naira card use for global payments is also expected to offer a short-term confidence boost in the banking sector, but it also underscores the fragility of Nigeria’s FX market. Analysts note that while convenient for consumers, the tight spending limits point to a cautious approach by banks — they are clearly not yet confident enough to fully restore pre-2022 functionality.

However, for many Nigerians, being able to pay for services directly — without needing to load a dollar card, or rely on risky workarounds — is a return to digital normalcy, however partial. Whether this newfound access lasts will depend on the continued stability of Nigeria’s volatile FX market.

Tech billionaire and entrepreneur Mark Cuban believes artificial intelligence has the potential to create the world’s first trillionaire — and it might not be a corporate juggernaut that achieves it, but “just one dude in a basement.”

Speaking on a recent episode of the High Performance podcast, the 66-year-old investor said the AI revolution is still in its earliest stage, comparing its current adoption curve to the beginnings of the personal computer and smartphone eras.

“It’s just the very beginning, right? You know, we’re still in the preseason,” Cuban said.

But the potential is unlike anything the world has seen, he argued. “Not only do I think it’ll create a trillionaire, but it could be just one dude in the basement. That’s how crazy it could be.”

AI’s Economic Trajectory

Cuban’s prediction comes amid explosive growth in the artificial intelligence sector. According to estimates by PwC, AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, making it one of the most transformative technologies of the 21st century. The consulting firm projects that $6.6 trillion will come from increased productivity, while $9.1 trillion will result from consumption-side effects such as higher demand for personalized and AI-enhanced products.

Meanwhile, market research firm Statista forecasts that the AI industry — covering software, hardware, and services — will reach a market size of over $1 trillion by 2031, up from about $241 billion in 2023. That growth is driven by surging adoption across healthcare, finance, transportation, media, manufacturing, and enterprise services.

Cuban believes that anyone who can harness AI to build a universally needed solution — like the role smartphones now play — could ride the wave to unprecedented personal wealth.

Someone who can come up with a way that makes AI as essential “will make a lot of money,” Cuban added.

Cuban emphasized that people tend to resist new technology in its early days, a pattern seen with PCs, smartphones, and now AI.

“Most people condemn things when they first happen,” he said. “But then, when you see people using it and you realize the value, that’s when people come around.”

The veteran investor said he’s already using AI extensively in both his business and personal life. For work, he turns to AI for tasks like software development and text-to-video generation. At home, he’s employed ChatGPT to help track his medications and exercise habits.

“I’m not here to tell you it’s going to replace everyone’s job — it won’t,” he said, but the technology is incredible, whether you’re innovative or just feeling bored.

A New Kind of Billionaire — or Trillionaire

Cuban’s trillionaire forecast underlines just how vast the AI stakes are. The world’s richest individual, Elon Musk, currently has a net worth of approximately $360 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. At his peak in December 2024, Musk’s net worth hit $439 billion, buoyed by a rally in Tesla stock. Yet even that historic figure falls far short of the $1 trillion mark.

Breaking that threshold would likely require a blend of perfect timing, massive market reach, and disruptive innovation — all of which Cuban says AI makes possible for even a single individual with the right idea and access to the right tools.

For those who think the era of building empires from garages and basements is over, Cuban’s message is that with AI, it might just be beginning again — on a trillion-dollar scale.

As President Donald Trump signed his landmark legislation on Independence Day — a bill he’s branded “One Big Beautiful Bill” — the renewable energy sector is bracing for what many are calling a policy gut punch.

Touted as a sweeping package of tax cuts and spending rollbacks, the bill’s most consequential target is the green energy industry, which now faces the rollback of the very federal support that helped it scale. Chief among the changes is the rapid phase-out of long-standing federal tax credits that enabled developers of solar and wind projects to recoup 30% or more of their project costs. These incentives — once essential to the industry’s expansion across rural and industrial America — will now vanish in a matter of months.

The Joint Committee on Taxation projects that axing this green credit alone will “save” the government $165 billion over the next decade. The total projected savings under Chapter 5 of the bill — dubbed the “Green New Deal Repeal” section — exceed half a trillion dollars, making it one of the bill’s largest cost-cutting components.

Fossil Fuel Revival

But the legislation doesn’t just phase out subsidies. It tilts the playing field decisively back toward fossil fuels.

The bill opens vast new areas of federal land to oil and gas leasing and lowers royalty rates for drilling, reviving incentives that had been curbed in past administrations. It also calls for a full-scale replenishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move the White House says will ensure “American energy dominance” in the event of global supply disruptions.

Trump’s legislation also introduces a new tax break aimed at domestic production of metallurgical coal — used in steelmaking — by reclassifying it as a “strategic mineral.” The new designation will allow companies to benefit from preferential tax treatment and easier permitting rules, signaling a return to coal not just as a legacy fuel, but as a critical industrial resource.

Meanwhile, electric vehicles take a hit. The bill eliminates federal tax credits for EV buyers, a change likely to ripple through the auto industry just as major manufacturers were ramping up U.S.-based EV production to meet future demand.

A Near Miss for Solar and Wind

The final text of the bill could have been even harsher. A proposed 20% excise tax on wind and solar projects that use Chinese-made components — which would have added steep costs to projects across the country — was ultimately scrapped during last-minute negotiations. Senate Republican leaders reportedly dropped the provision to avoid fracturing industry support in GOP-led states where wind and solar provide jobs and local tax revenue.

Still, the damage is significant. Industry analysts warn that without the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Production Tax Credit (PTC), many renewable energy projects may stall or be canceled altogether. With financing costs already high and project pipelines dependent on predictability, the sudden policy reversal could put thousands of jobs at risk and dry up billions in private-sector investment.

While the administration celebrates the bill as a win for taxpayers and “American energy independence,” clean energy advocates say it sends a stark message that Washington is backing away from decarbonization.

Environmental groups have accused Trump of engineering a regulatory bonanza for oil and coal interests at the expense of the planet.

But for Trump and congressional Republicans, the bill marks a defining legislative achievement — a sweeping repudiation of Biden-era climate priorities and the latest move in a broader strategy to reassert fossil fuel dominance as a national strength.

“We will drill, baby, drill,” Trump said during his inauguration speech. “We will be a rich nation again and it is the liquid gold under our feet that will help us do it.”

The question now is how quickly the renewable sector can adapt — or whether it can survive the political headwinds at all.

President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law a massive and controversial tax and spending package during a theatrical Independence Day celebration on the White House South Lawn—an event rich in pageantry and politics, but shadowed by the economic and social upheaval the legislation is expected to unleash across the country.

With red, white, and blue bunting draped across the White House, and fighter jets roaring overhead in a choreographed flyover, Trump used the moment to portray himself as a president who delivers—on the battlefield, in the courtroom, and now in Congress.

“Promises made, promises kept—and we’ve kept them,” he declared, moments before using a ceremonial gavel gifted by House Speaker Mike Johnson to seal the bill’s passage.

The signing capped weeks of bruising intraparty wrangling and a months-long legislative slog, as Republicans rushed to pass the multitrillion-dollar package before Trump’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. The final law extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, eliminates taxes on tips and Social Security income, and makes sweeping cuts to Medicaid and food stamp programs—long-standing Republican targets that now stand gutted.

A Fight on the Right: Trump vs. His Base

But beyond its staggering fiscal scope and deeply polarizing content, the bill’s passage is also notable for the political firestorm it ignited within the president’s own party. In achieving what may be his most consequential legislative victory to date, Trump bulldozed opposition not just from Democrats, but from prominent voices on the right, including allies like Elon Musk and high-profile conservative lawmakers who openly questioned the bill’s long-term consequences.

For months, Trump lobbied aggressively to unify Republicans around the bill, knowing it would face total resistance from Democrats. But the real battle played out within the GOP itself.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk—long seen as an unofficial Trump adviser and one of his most influential outside supporters—publicly opposed the legislation’s size and scope, especially provisions cutting funding for tech-friendly energy programs and expanding federal surveillance under the guise of immigration enforcement. Musk reportedly urged congressional allies to vote against the bill, arguing it betrayed “economic freedom” and marked a return to “bloated federal overreach.”

His resistance was part of a broader split on the American right, where fiscal conservatives and libertarian-leaning Republicans balked at the bill’s $3.3 trillion projected impact on the national debt. In the House, two Republicans broke ranks—most notably Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a libertarian conservative who has frequently clashed with Trump despite aligning with him ideologically. Massie condemned the package as “fiscally insane” and a “betrayal of the limited government principles the party once claimed to stand for.”

In the Senate, North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis went a step further, publicly opposing the bill and announcing he would not seek reelection. Tillis had long warned that slashing healthcare access for millions while handing tax breaks to billionaires would backfire politically. His stance earned him the ire of Trump’s political apparatus, which swiftly began supporting potential challengers for his Senate seat.

The legislation narrowly passed the Senate thanks to Vice President J.D. Vance, who broke a 50-50 tie by casting the deciding vote. Though once a Trump skeptic, Vance has emerged as a reliable enforcer of the president’s agenda.

A Full-Scale Dismantling of the Democratic Legacy

The bill marks a sweeping rejection of the policy architecture laid by former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. It repeals large parts of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, claws back climate-related tax credits enacted under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, and guts key provisions aimed at helping low-income families.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the package will push nearly 12 million Americans off health coverage and reduce food assistance eligibility for millions more. At the same time, it devotes tens of billions to building new migrant detention centers, expands federal immigration enforcement, and beefs up surveillance programs across the southern border.

Trump defended the cuts as necessary tradeoffs to spur what he described as an “economic rocket ship.” Speaking to Fourth of July attendees before signing the bill, he said, “We’re going to make this country the strongest, the richest, and the freest it’s ever been. That starts with getting Washington out of your pocket and your doctor’s office.”

Democrats were quick to respond. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin condemned the law as “devastating,” accusing Trump and Republicans of “handing billionaires a $5 trillion gift while robbing working families of basic dignity.”

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler echoed the criticism, calling the bill “the worst job-killing legislation in modern history” and warning it would leave tens of millions “more vulnerable, more desperate, and more disposable.”

A Campaign Blueprint—and a Midterm Battleground

As the fireworks display began and Trump and First Lady Melania danced on the Truman Balcony to “Y.M.C.A.”—a now-familiar campaign anthem—the president’s political machine was already shifting into campaign mode. The White House framed the bill not just as a policy achievement, but as the cornerstone of Trump’s 2026 midterm strategy.

Party officials confirmed that Republican leadership is planning a “victory tour” to showcase the bill’s key promises in swing states, while Democrats are preparing to use it as a rallying cry for what they say is a betrayal of the American working class.

Plans for nationwide rallies, protest vigils, voter registration drives, and targeted ad campaigns are already underway. The DNC has reportedly commissioned a series of attack ads focused on Republicans in vulnerable districts, tying them directly to the Medicaid and food stamp cuts, and the bill’s $3.3 trillion projected addition to the national debt.

Polls show a country divided. A Washington Post/Ipsos survey found that while most Americans support eliminating taxes on tips and boosting child tax credits, majorities oppose slashing food assistance and expanding immigration detention spending. Nearly 60 percent said it was “unacceptable” for the bill to increase the national debt beyond its current $36 trillion level.

For Trump, however, the legislative win is personal. After a flurry of Supreme Court victories and a show of military strength following the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities last month, the budget bill adds to a string of momentum that could shape the tone of the 2026 elections.

But even some within his party warn that the bill’s real consequences may only be felt months from now—when families begin losing Medicaid, food insecurity spikes, and the debt begins to climb faster than projected.