Google is reportedly testing disabling the ability to click on the sources button in the Google Discover card of articles. Normally, when you click on the sources, it will open up a new screen with all the source articles and links to them.
Damien Andell, who watched Google Discover like a hawk, spotted this test. I tried to replicate it but I was unsuccessful. He said on X, "Google Discover has just started a test on AI summaries, disabling clicks on sources."
What are source links? These here:
Damien Andell added that how it worked before (or not in the test) was that "clicking on the sources at the bottom of an AI summary card opened a mini-feed with articles from the sources of the AI summary."
As a reminder, Google added AI summaries to Google Discover in 2025, which upset a lot of publishers.
Here is his post:
Google Discover has just started a test on AI summaries:
Disabling clicks on sources.
Behavior before this test:
Clicking on the sources at the bottom of an AI summary card opened a mini-feed with articles from the sources of the AI summary.
With the test, we have the flag: disable_aio_sources_button_tap
This disables clicks on sources and no longer opens the mini-feed with articles from the AI summary's sources.
CC @gaganghotra_ @rustybrick @nicola_agius
#googlediscover
— Damien Andell (@AndellDam) October 23, 2026
This has to be a bug, right? I mean, really? Google is taking away more clicks from publishers?
Forum discussion at X.
