Judge dismisses antitrust lawsuits over Google AI Overviews

In short: A US federal judge dismissed antitrust lawsuits from Chegg and Penske Media that challenged Google’s AI Overviews in Search.

What happened

A federal judge has dismissed two antitrust lawsuits against Google. The cases were brought by Chegg and Penske Media Corporation, the parent company of Rolling Stone.

Both companies said Google’s AI Overviews hurt their businesses. AI Overviews are the AI written summaries that can appear at the top of Google Search results (like Google giving you a quick answer before you click any links).

Chegg and Penske Media argued that Google used its power in search to pressure publishers to provide content that could be used in these summaries, without paying. They also said that by showing answers on Google’s own page, Google reduced the number of people clicking through to their sites, which can lower ad and subscription revenue.

US District Judge Amit Mehta sided with Google and dismissed the claims. In the ruling, he wrote that the companies only showed an “expectation” that Google would send them traffic if they made their content available for free. He said an expectation is not the same as an agreement, and that is simply how a general search engine works.

Mehta also said the court is not unsympathetic to publishers, but that antitrust law is not a substitute for lawmakers deciding how to handle the economic effects of new technology.

Why it matters

Many websites depend on Google for visitors, the way a shop might depend on foot traffic from a busy street. If more questions get answered directly on Google, fewer people may visit the original sites, and this ruling makes it harder to challenge that shift using antitrust lawsuits.

Source: The Verge AI