In a groundbreaking move, Penske Media, a major U.S. media conglomerate, has become the first large American media company to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google, targeting its AI Overviews feature.
The lawsuit, filed in September 2025, accuses Google of leveraging its dominance in search to siphon traffic from publishers and use their content without compensation. Penske, which owns prominent outlets like *Rolling Stone* and *The Hollywood Reporter*, claims that Google’s AI-driven summaries are eroding the media industry’s revenue streams.
According to Penske’s filing, approximately 20% of search results containing at least one link to its websites now include AI Overviews, which provide concise summaries generated by Google’s AI. These summaries often reduce the need for users to click through to publishers’ sites. Penske reports that its affiliate link revenue — a critical income source — has plummeted by over a third since late 2024, correlating with the rollout of AI Overviews.
Google, in response, defends AI Overviews as a feature that enhances user experience by delivering faster, more relevant answers. The company argues that users who do click through to websites from AI Overviews tend to spend more time on those sites, suggesting higher engagement. However, this defense echoes familiar arguments Google has used in past disputes with publishers, offering little reassurance to an industry grappling with shrinking ad revenues.
This conflict is hardly new. For two decades, media companies have built business models heavily reliant on search engine traffic, particularly from Google, while expecting stability in this dynamic ecosystem.
Publishers often assume their content’s value entitles them to consistent traffic and revenue, yet they may overestimate its uniqueness or utility in an age of abundant information. Google’s AI Overviews, by summarizing content directly in search results, exacerbate this tension, raising existential questions about the sustainability of ad-driven media models.
Meanwhile, AI companies like OpenAI have taken a different approach, striking licensing deals to access publisher content for training and generating responses. While these agreements bring some revenue, they fall short of offsetting the losses from declining traffic. For Penske, the dilemma is stark: blocking AI systems like ChatGPT from accessing its content is feasible, but disappearing entirely from Google’s search results would be catastrophic. With Google controlling the lion’s share of search traffic, publishers face a lose-lose scenario — cooperate and lose revenue, or resist and risk irrelevance.
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The lawsuit underscores a broader industry reckoning. As AI reshapes how information is consumed, media companies must innovate beyond traditional traffic-dependent models. Whether Penske’s legal challenge will force Google to alter its practices remains uncertain, but the case highlights a critical juncture for the future of digital publishing.
