A federal judge has dismissed antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Penske Media Corporation, the parent of Rolling Stone, that alleged Google’s AI search features diverted traffic from their sites. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta issued the ruling on Wednesday, stating that the plaintiffs’ claims did not meet the legal standard for antitrust violations. The suits, filed in 2023, had accused Google of abusing its monopoly power by pressuring publishers to provide content for AI Overviews without compensation, threatening to remove them from search results if they refused. Plaintiffs argued that Google’s practices reduced referral traffic and harmed their revenue. Judge Mehta rejected this reasoning, writing that publishers’ expectations of traffic were not contractual agreements and that antitrust law could not substitute for legislative action addressing the economic effects of new technology. He noted the court’s sympathy for publishers’ concerns but emphasized that the matter required policy solutions, not judicial intervention. The dismissals follow a separate antitrust case in which Google was found liable for illegally maintaining monopoly power in online search and advertising. Despite the setbacks, Google continues to expand its AI search features, including AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini, and has recently entered a pilot program to pay approximately 100 publishers for contributions to these services. The Verge is part of Penske Media.