Rolling Stone Parent Company Sues Google Over AI Overviews
▼ Summary
– Penske Media Corporation is suing Google over its AI Overviews, claiming they reduce click-throughs to source sites and illegally benefit from reporters’ work.
– This lawsuit is the first by a major American media company, though other entities like Chegg and European publishers have also sued Google over the feature.
– Google defends AI Overviews by stating they make search more helpful and increase usage, but publishers report significant traffic and revenue drops.
– Penske Media attributes a more than one-third decline in affiliate revenue this year directly to decreased traffic from Google searches.
– The company feels trapped: blocking Google indexing would harm business further, while continuing to provide content fuels the AI that threatens its publishing model.
A major media corporation has initiated legal action against Google, alleging that the tech giant’s AI-generated search summaries are causing substantial harm to publishers. Penske Media Corporation, which owns prominent titles like Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter, contends that Google’s AI Overviews discourage users from visiting original websites, leading to a sharp decline in traffic and advertising revenue.
This lawsuit represents the most significant challenge to Google’s AI search feature from a U.S.-based media company. Earlier this year, the online education platform Chegg filed a similar suit, and a coalition of European publishers has also raised objections. Industry groups, including the News / Media Alliance, have condemned the practice, labeling it a form of content theft and urging regulatory intervention.
Google has defended its approach, with a spokesperson stating that AI Overviews improve the user experience and increase engagement with search. However, publishers argue the opposite, that when answers are provided directly on the results page, readers have little incentive to click through to the source. Penske Media reports that affiliate revenue has fallen by more than a third this year, a drop it directly attributes to reduced Google referrals.
The complaint highlights a troubling dilemma for content creators. On one hand, they can opt out of Google’s index entirely, but doing so would eliminate a critical source of visibility. On the other, by allowing their material to be indexed, they inadvertently supply training data for the very AI systems undermining their business. As described in the legal filing, this amounts to “adding fuel to a fire” that jeopardizes the sustainability of professional journalism.
(Source: The Verge)
