Judge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust lawsuits targeting Google AI search

A US federal judge has dismissed antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Penske Media against Google. The publishers accused Google of violating antitrust laws in its AI search products, which resulted in reduced traffic for multiple websites. However, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google's actions do not constitute illegal behavior under antitrust law.

The cases were initially filed in 2025, and Google had requested their dismissal earlier this year. Chegg alleged that Google unlawfully scraped its educational content, enabling Google's Gemini models to mimic the content and decrease the website's traffic. Similarly, Penske Media, which owns Rolling Stone and Variety, claimed that Google's actions led to a loss in traffic.

The publisher argued that it was unfair for websites indexed for organic search to have their content used for AI answers without the option to opt out. However, the judge dismissed these claims, stating that Google's implicit agreement with websites is not legally binding. The plaintiffs had argued that they expected Google to send them search traffic if they made their content available for free, but the judge emphasized that such an expectation is not an agreement.