Google says disabled Discover source taps were a bug
Google confirmed that disabled source links on Discover AI summary cards were the result of a bug in an experiment. Rajan Patel, VP of Engineering for Search, stated on X that the experiment has been turned off and the feature now works as intended. This response follows a report by researcher Damien Andell, who identified a flag called “disable\aio\sources\button\tap” that prevented users from…
Key points
- Google confirmed disabled Discover source taps were a bug in a now-off experiment.
- Researcher Damien Andell identified the bug via a specific flag in the Discover feed.
- Andell found the bug was replaced by a new experiment called “aio tap falls through to hero”.
Andell initially reported the issue on Oct. 23, noting that tapping sources previously opened a feed of cited articles. After Google’s explanation, Andell checked the feed again on Oct. 27 and found the original experiment had been replaced by a new one named “aio tap falls through to hero.” Neither Google nor Andell has explained what the new experiment tests or how it affects user interaction with AI summaries.
The change is significant for publishers because the Discover Generative AI report in Search Console tracks impressions of links shown in these summaries. While the report measures visibility, the disabled taps temporarily removed a direct path for users to navigate from AI-generated content to the original source sites.
Google: Disabled Discover Clicks Were A Bug In An Experiment via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Search Engine Journal · 27 October 2026
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