A US federal court has dismissed two antitrust lawsuits filed against Google by Chegg and Penske Media. The plaintiffs alleged that Google's AI Overviews feature reduces website traffic and utilizes publisher content without providing compensation.
Judge Amit Mehta ruled that the implementation of AI-generated search summaries does not violate US antitrust laws. The court determined that the expectation of traffic in exchange for free content does not constitute a legally binding agreement between search engines and publishers.
Judge Mehta noted that while the court acknowledges the challenges faced by publishers, antitrust law is not the appropriate mechanism to regulate the economic impacts of new technologies. The ruling emphasizes that such issues require legislative action.
Google has previously launched a pilot program to compensate publishers for the use of their materials in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini. Reports indicate that the payments received by most participants in this program are minimal.
