The parent company of Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of unlawfully using its journalism to fuel AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of search results.
Penske Media’s case, lodged Friday in federal court in Washington, DC,, marks the first time a major US publisher has taken legal action against Google over its “AI Overviews” feature. The media group, led by Jay Penske, argues that the practice siphons traffic from news outlets, eroding both advertising and subscription revenue.
According to the lawsuit, Google only includes publishers’ sites in search results if it can also incorporate their reporting into AI summaries. Penske claims this dynamic leaves publishers with little leverage and allows Google to avoid paying licensing fees for republishing content or training its AI systems. The company pointed to a federal court finding that Google controls nearly 90% of the US search market.
“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 Media said in a statement.
The complaint alleges that about 20% of Google searches linking to Penske-owned sites now feature AI Overviews, a figure expected to climb. The company said its affiliate revenue had already dropped by more than one-third by late 2024 due to declining search traffic.
Google, in response, defended the feature. “With AI Overviews, people find Search more helpful and use it more, creating new opportunities for content to be discovered. We will defend against these meritless claims,” spokesperson Jose Castaneda said on Saturday.
Penske’s suit follows similar action by online education firm Chegg, which sued Google in February, arguing that AI-generated summaries were undercutting demand for original content.
The lawsuit comes amid mounting frustration from publishers and trade groups. Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News/Media Alliance, said Google’s dominance allows it to bypass licensing agreements that other AI companies, including OpenAI, have struck with outlets such as News Corp, Financial Times and The Atlantic.
“When you have the massive scale and market power that Google has, you are not obligated to abide by the same norms. That is the problem,” Coffey stated.
Earlier this month, Google secured a rare antitrust win when a judge ruled it would not have to sell its Chrome browser as part of measures to open competition in search — a decision that disappointed many in the publishing industry.
