Penske Media vs Google: The Whole Case Rests on a Bargain Nobody Ever Signed

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Penske Media, which publishes Rolling Stone, Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, and more than fifteen other titles, filed a memorandum in February opposing Google’s motion to dismiss its antitrust suit. The filing argues that AI-generated summaries cannibalize publisher traffic, with click-through on affected queries falling by as much as fifty-eight percent.

Google’s defense, as characterized in the filing, is the part worth sitting with. There is no reciprocity agreement, the argument runs, because Google never promised to deliver any search referral traffic in the first place.

Google on Media Forum

Penske Media vs Google: The Whole Case Rests on a Bargain Nobody Ever Signed