October 1, 2026
Publishers' traffic-loss lawsuits dismissed: court rejects both cases against Google AI Overviews
On Sep 30, 2026, a court dismissed lawsuits by Chegg and Penske Media over traffic lost to Google's AI answers.
Chegg and Penske Media sought to hold Google liable for using their content in AI Overviews. The court dismissed both lawsuits.
Grounds for the ruling. In his ruling in cases No. 25-cv-00543 and No. 25-cv-03192, Judge Amit Mehta found that an expectation of search traffic in exchange for free access to content did not constitute an agreement between publishers and Google. Penske Media also failed to establish that Google Search and AI Overviews are two separate products, so the court dismissed its tying claim.
After dismissing the federal claims, the court declined to hear either company's unjust enrichment claims under California law.
Managing your site. The publishers challenged the use of their content in court. Since Aug 31, 2026, site owners worldwide have had access to a separate setting to opt out of Google Search's AI features.
In Search Console, open Settings → Search generative AI and select "Exclude my site's links and content from Search generative AI features". Google will remove the site's content and links from AI Overviews and AI Mode, and traffic from these features will stop. Google does not use this setting as a signal for ranking or inclusion in other parts of Search.
Exclusion usually takes a few days. Google specifies 1–2 days after the setting takes effect, though some content may remain longer due to caching.
Since the same date, the Generative AI performance report has been available to sites worldwide. The report shows link impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode, broken down by page, country, date and device. According to Google Search Central documentation dated Jul 10, 2026, visibility in generative search requires no special AI files or separate schema.org markup, and Google Search ignores llms.txt.
Primary sources:
- [Engadget, Oct 1, 2026](https://www.engadget.com/2275023/judge-dismisses-lawsuits-claiming-googles-ai-overviews-siphon-web-traffic) - [Court ruling dated Sep 30, 2026](https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1%3A2025cv00543/277735/27/) - [Google's help page on excluding a site from Search's AI features](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/16908024?hl=en-1)
Judge Mehta's ruling can be appealed.
