US District Judge Amit Mehta threw out separate antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Penske Media against Google, both alleging that AI Overviews and related features harmed their website traffic. Mehta found that Google had no formal agreement with either company to send them search traffic, so antitrust law did not apply to the dispute. The same judge previously ruled against Google in the DOJ's broader search antitrust case, though penalties there were lighter than prosecutors sought.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-01
US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed lawsuits from Penske Media Corporation and Chegg that accused Google of using AI Overviews to siphon traffic from their sites and harm ad revenue. Mehta ruled both companies failed to show Google violated antitrust law, stating that an expectation of search traffic is not an agreement Google broke.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-01
US District Judge Amit Mehta threw out antitrust lawsuits from Chegg and Penske Media Corporation, which had accused Google of forcing publishers to supply free content for AI Overviews under threat of losing search visibility. Mehta ruled the publishers' claims didn't meet the legal standard for antitrust violations, saying an expectation of referral traffic is not a binding agreement.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-01
Google is reportedly running a test program, launched less than a year ago, that compensates roughly 100 publishers based on how much their content contributes to AI Overviews, AI Mode, and the Gemini chatbot, according to The Information via Digiday. One early participant reportedly earned over $1 million in a year, while a more recent entrant has earned $50,000 to $60,000.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-30
Christina Weaver of Kodiak, Alaska turned herself in to a state wildlife officer after harvesting three Wilson's snipes in September, believing hunting season had opened based on a Google AI Overview stating snipe season began September 1. That date applies to some Alaska regions but not Kodiak, where the actual season runs from October 8 to January 22. The investigating officer confirmed his own search produced the same misleading result.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-29
According to data compiled by Axios, monthly visits to the top 100 news sites fell from over 70 million in July 2024 to about 47 million in July 2026. The decline coincides with Google's 2024 introduction of AI Overviews atop search results and Meta's rollout of its own AI assistant, both of which surface summarized content instead of directing users to original articles.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-24
Google is trialing a new Discover feature called 'Dive Deeper' that generates an AI summary of a topic instead of directing users to a publisher's article or video. The tool, similar to Search's AI Overviews, is currently being tested with video content, with more formats expected in coming weeks. It also surfaces links to related stories, community reactions, and original sources for users who want to dig further.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-21
Federal investigators say Daejon Labrayae Love, posing as an injured San Francisco 49ers receiver or a wealthy Swiss developer, and 18-year-old accomplice Taylor Jamie Chan, who claimed to be his financial advisor, met victims on dating apps and convinced them to invest in fake opportunities. The FBI alleges the two swindled at least 26 women across four states out of roughly $1.3 million, with some victims taking out loans to fund the fake investments. When suspicious victims searched online, Google's AI Overviews reportedly echoed Love's fabricated social media claims, lending false credibility to his identity.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-01