Federal Judge Dismisses Antitrust Lawsuits Against Google by Chegg and Penske

<p>A US federal judge has dismissed antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Penske Media against Google. The companies alleged that Google's AI search features, including AI overviews, have contributed to decreased traffic on their websites. US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google's actions do not violate antitrust laws.</p><p>The lawsuits were filed in 2025, with Google seeking dismissal earlier this year. Chegg, an education platform, claimed that Google unlawfully scraped its educational content, allowing Gemini models to replicate that content and diminish traffic to its site. Penske, which owns publications such as Rolling Stone and Variety, made similar claims regarding lost traffic, arguing that it was unfair for sites indexed for organic search to have their content used for AI-generated answers without an option to opt out.</p><p>Judge Mehta stated that the plaintiffs' arguments did not convince him, noting that Google's implicit agreement with websites is not legally significant. He remarked, "Plaintiffs have pleaded only that they have an ‘expectation’ that Google will send them search traffic if they make their content available for free. But an expectation is not an agreement. It is simply how a general search engine works."</p>