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Penske Media Sues Google Over AI Overviews, Citing Coerced Use of Journalism

The complaint says Google ties search placement to rights for AI summaries, with Google arguing the feature improves results.

Overview

  • Penske Media filed a federal lawsuit in Washington accusing Google of using its articles without consent in AI-generated overviews.
  • The publisher alleges Google leverages its dominance in web search to require permission to use news content as a condition for appearing in results.
  • The suit claims AI summaries answer queries directly and divert clicks from original sites, threatening ad and subscription revenue.
  • Google denies wrongdoing, saying AI Overviews enhance the search experience, broaden the range of sites discovered, and that it will defend against the claims.
  • The News/Media Alliance backed publishers’ concerns and contrasted Google’s approach with competitors that have pursued content licensing deals.