Google is facing a new lawsuit from Penske Media Corporation (PMC), which owns well-known publications such as Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Vibe and Artforum. The company accuses Google of using publishers’ content without proper permission to power AI-generated summaries in search results.
PMC argues that Google is using its dominant position in search to force publishers into a deal they never agreed to. The lawsuit claims that while publishers have long allowed Google to index their websites in return for traffic, the company is now also demanding access to use that content for AI summaries that often answer users’ questions directly without sending them to publisher sites.
“As a leading global publisher, we have a duty to protect PMC’s best-in-class journalists and award-winning journalism as a source of truth,” said Penske Media CEO Jay Penske, according to TechCrunch. “Furthermore, 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.”
PMC says the only way to stop Google from using its material in this way would be to remove itself from Google search entirely, something that would be “devastating.” The lawsuit also claims that since Google rolled out AI Overviews, PMC has seen a sharp drop in clicks from search, which reduces its advertising, subscription, and affiliate revenue.
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Google has denied the claims.“Every day, Google sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites,” spokesperson Jose Castaneda said. “We will defend against these meritless claims.”
This lawsuit is the first of its kind against Google and its parent company Alphabet. Although other publishers and authors have already taken legal action against other AI firms for similar copyright concerns.