A federal judge has dismissed antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Penske Media Corporation, the parent of Rolling Stone, against Google over its AI Overviews. The publishers had argued that Google abused its monopoly by forcing them to supply content for free or lose search visibility.
In Wednesday's ruling, US District Judge Amit Mehta said the publishers only pleaded an "expectation" of traffic, not an agreement. He acknowledged the difficult situation for publishers but said antitrust rules are not the right tool to address economic harm from new innovation.
The dismissal comes as news outlets continue to see steep traffic declines from Google's AI search changes. Separately, The Information reported that Google is paying around 100 publishers for contributions to AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini in a pilot program.