Penske Media – which owns Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety — is suing Google. Google is accused of stealing Penske’s journalism to power its AI-generated summaries in search.

Why we care. This is the first lawsuit by a major U.S. publisher targeting Google’s AI Overviews, which have negatively impacted traffic and revenue for various types of sites. Another publisher, MailOnline, reported that AI Overviews were responsible for a 56% CTR drop.

What’s happening. Penske Media’s lawsuit, filed Friday in D.C. federal court, claims Google forces publishers to accept the use of their content in AI summaries or risk being buried in search. The suit alleges:

  • Google’s near-90% search dominance lets it avoid paying for content – unlike rival OpenAI, which has struck licensing deals with major publishers.
  • AI Overviews appear on ~20% of searches linking to its sites and blames the feature for a one-third drop in affiliate revenue by late 2024.

What they’re saying:

  • “We have a responsibility to proactively fight for the future of digital media and preserve its integrity – all of which is threatened by Google’s current actions,” Penske said.
  • “AI Overviews make Search more helpful and send traffic to more sites. We will defend against these meritless claims,” said a Google spokesperson told Reuters.

Zoom out. This is the second lawsuit seeking compensation for Google’s AI Overviews hurting traffic and revenue.

Dig deeper.

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Danny Goodwin

Danny Goodwin is Editorial Director of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. In addition to reporting on the latest search marketing news, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Subject Matter Expert) program. He also helps program U.S. SMX events. Goodwin has been editing and writing about the latest developments and trends in search and digital marketing since 2007. He previously was Executive Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many major search conferences and virtual events, and has been sourced for his expertise by a wide range of publications and podcasts.


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Last Update: September 15, 2025