Google Is a Parasite — And Everyone Else Is Paying the Price | Shimmy Says
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Google just got fined $1 billion by the EU for violating the Digital Markets Act. Regulators say AI Overviews and AI Mode may be next. Alan Shimel argues this is only the beginning of a reckoning that's been coming for years. Old Google indexed the open web and sent people to publishers. New Google wants to BE the destination — ingesting reporting, research and analysis produced by other people, then answering the query inside Google so the click never happens. Publishers already have a name for the future: "Google Zero." Traffic in heavily crawled sectors has already collapsed. In this extended episode of Shimmy Says, Alan makes the argument out loud that most of the media industry has been whispering: Google is a parasite. And the damage doesn't stop at publishers — it moves through PR agencies, technology vendors, and audiences too. Watch for Alan's "Jerry Maguire moment" on why every part of the tech media ecosystem needs to renegotiate the deal.