US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Penske Media Corporation against Google. The plaintiffs alleged that Google abused its monopoly power by forcing publishers to provide content for AI Overviews without compensation under the threat of reduced search visibility.
The publishers claimed that Google’s AI-powered search features diverted web traffic from their sites, which negatively impacted their revenue. Judge Mehta ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove a violation of antitrust law, noting that an expectation of traffic does not constitute a binding agreement.
The court stated that antitrust regulations cannot substitute for legislative action regarding the economic consequences of new technologies. Despite the ruling, Google continues to address publisher concerns through a pilot program that involves payments to approximately 100 publishers for content used in AI Overviews and Gemini.
