• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer, September 15, 2025

Penske Media, owner of Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety, alleges that Google AI Overviews steals content, cuts traffic and threatens media's future through artificial intelligence (AI).

The publisher stated in its complaint that about 20% of Google search results with a link to one of its sites include AI Overviews, but that percentage continues to rise. 

It also claims that revenue from affiliate links for online shopping have dropped by more than one third since the end of 2024, which it attributed to decreased traffic from Google, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Siphoning and discouraging user traffic to [Penske Media Corp.] and other publishers’ websites in this manner will have profoundly harmful effects on the overall quality and quantity of the information accessible on the internet,” the WSJ reports that the complaint alleges.

“With AI Overviews, people find search more helpful and use it more, creating new opportunities for content to be discovered,” Google spokesman José Castañeda told the WSJ. “Every day, Google sends billions of clicks to sites across the web, and AI Overviews send traffic to a greater diversity of sites. We will defend against these meritless claims.”

Castañeda told the WSJ that clicks on links that accompany AI Overviews are higher-quality because those users spend more time on publisher sites.

Penske alleges that Google’s AI features are built on information it provides without compensation.

There is a chance that the publishing company could block Google from presenting its sites like Variety in search results, which it said would devastate its business or unwillingly fuel more AI summaries.

This is only part of the challenges that Google faces. The Justice Department is seeking a “full technical separation and divestiture” of Google’s advertising exchange, AdX, Jeannie Rhee, an outside lawyer for the Alphabet company, told Bloomberg.

The DOJ also wants Google to make it possible to integrate its technology with rivals, after finding that Google illegally dominated the advertising-technology markets.

Google had considered selling off parts of its ad tech business to resolve antitrust concerns in Europe and the U.S., Jeannie Rhee, an outside lawyer for the company told Bloomberg on Monday. The DOJ’s proposal goes further.

Next week the DOJ and Google will meet for a two-week hearing, starting Monday, on whether the company must sell off parts of its ad-exchange business.

Google had offered a settlement prior to the trial that would split the part of its business that auctions and places ads on websites and apps into two separate companies that would remain under the Alphabet umbrella.