Google has been sued again. Penske Media, the owner of major publications like Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety, has legally challenged the tech giant, accusing it of using its journalistic content without permission to create AI-generated summaries that are moving traffic away from its websites. The lawsuit, filed in a Washington, D.C. federal court, marks the first time a prominent US publisher has taken legal action against Google over its “AI Overviews” feature.According to a news report by news agency Reuters, news organisations have argued that these new AI summaries, which appear at the top of search results, are decreasing their advertising and subscription revenue by reducing the number of users who click through to their sites.
What Penska Media lawsuit alleges
Penske Media, which reportedly attracts 120 million online visitors each month, alleges that Google effectively forces publishers to consent to the use of their content in these AI summaries. “We have a responsibility to proactively fight for the future of digital media and preserve its integrity – all of which is threatened by Google’s current actions,” Penske Chairman Jay Penske was quoted as saying.According to the lawsuit, Google leverages its dominant position in the search market to do this, a position a federal court last year found to be nearly 90% of the US market share.The company’s lawsuit claims that AI Overviews now appear on roughly 20% of Google searches that would otherwise have led to its sites. This, it says, has contributed to a decline in search traffic and a drop of more than a third in its affiliate revenue since late 2024.In February, online education company Chegg filed a similar lawsuit, alleging that Google’s AI overviews are undermining competition and demand for original content.
Google says it will defend against meritless claims
In its defense, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that AI overviews are a better experience for users and actually send traffic to a wider variety of websites, Reuters reported.“With AI Overviews, people find Search more helpful and use it more, creating new opportunities for content to be discovered,” Castaneda said, adding, “We will defend against these meritless claims.”The lawsuit comes on the heels of a rare antitrust victory for Google, which was ruled not to have to sell its Chrome browser.