Judge Mehta dismisses Chegg and Penske Media antitrust suits over Google AI Overviews

What happened

On October 1, 2026, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed two antitrust lawsuits against Google over its AI Overviews, the AI-generated summaries shown at the top of search results. Chegg, the education company, and Penske Media (owner of Rolling Stone, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter) had sued in 2025, arguing Google forced publishers into a trade: let AI Overviews use their work, or drop out of search entirely — pulling readers and revenue away from their sites. Chegg specifically argued Google scraped its educational materials to feed Gemini models that replicate its content.

Mehta — the same judge who ruled in 2024 that Google illegally maintained a search monopoly — held that publishers failed "to get out of the starting gate" on their core claim. He found that AI Overviews and search are an "integrated search experience," not separate products, and that Google never had any bargain with publishers: "An expectation is not an agreement. It is simply how a general search engine works." Penske's case was dismissed without prejudice, so it can refile, and the order is final, making it appealable.

Why it matters to creators

The ruling closes the antitrust path for publishers and other online creators seeking compensation or an opt-out from Google's use of their content in AI answers. Mehta acknowledged he is "unsympathetic"-free in the sense that he wrote he does not treat the alleged harms to "journalists, educators, and other online creators whose content Google takes and repurposes without compensation" lightly — but held that any fix must come from Congress or regulators, not antitrust courts.

What is not yet known

Penske can refile or appeal; neither company nor Google commented immediately. Publisher groups are pushing for a U.S. opt-out mechanism similar to what the UK's competition regulator ordered in June 2026 (publishers must be able to opt out of AI Overviews within nine months). The EU's antitrust probe of Google's AI Overviews remains open.