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

What happened

On September 30, 2026, US District Judge Amit P. Mehta (D.D.C.) dismissed the antitrust suits brought by Penske Media (owner of Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter) and Chegg against Google over its AI Overviews. The publishers argued Google effectively forces them to hand over content for free in exchange for search visibility, then uses that content to answer users' questions directly in AI Overviews, cutting click-through traffic to the original sites. The court held the publishers had not pleaded any actual agreement in which Google promised to "sell" them any specific amount of traffic in exchange for "buying" their content: "an expectation is not an agreement." The dismissal also covered Chegg's claims against Google.

Why it matters to creators

Notably, the judge acknowledged the underlying harm even while ruling against the publishers: the opinion says the court "does not treat Plaintiffs' alleged harms lightly" and cites "the knock-on consequences to journalists, educators, and other online creators whose content Google takes and repurposes without compensation." The ruling is a setback for creators seeking antitrust leverage over AI Overviews, but it was dismissed without prejudice on the antitrust theories — copyright claims are a separate track, and publishers such as Penske have pursued copyright cases against Google as well.

What is not yet known

Whether Penske or Chegg will appeal or refile with different legal theories; the Press Gazette noted the Sherman Act claim failed for lack of an alleged "formal bargain," leaving copyright litigation as the main remaining pressure channel.