At Gizmodo, AJ Dellinger tells us,

Google has insisted that its AI-generated search result overviews and summaries have not actually hurt traffic for publishers. The publishers disagree, and at least one is willing to go to court to prove the harm they claim Google has caused. Penske Media Corporation, the parent company of Rolling Stone and The Hollywood Reporter, sued Google on Friday over allegations that the search giant has used its work without permission to generate summaries and ultimately reduced traffic to its publications.

“Rolling Stone Publisher Sues Google Over AI Overview Summaries,” September 14, 2025

The publishers surely have a case. If Google summarizes a news article for free, readers tend not to go to read the rest at the site, where they either pay or provide an audience for advertisers.

Image Credit: Aleksey 159 - Adobe Stock

The tendency for readers not to finish a story is well known in the news industry; it is, of course, why good news style provides all the key information in the first few lines.*

The lawsuit claims that Google now only indexes a website, making it available to appear in search, if the publisher agrees to give Google permission to use that content for other purposes, like its AI summaries. If you think you lose traffic by not getting clickthroughs on Google, just imagine how bad it would be to not appear at all. “AI Overview Summaries”

So, hardball then.

And at Gizmodo, Dellinger documents the traffic declines.

In court, Google’s own bot Gemini may end up as a “witness” for the plaintiff: As Dellinger notes, it currently admits that summaries have reduced traffic to publishers.

The outcome of the case will provide more information about whether long term decline of traditional media is an inevitable outcome of the switch to new internet-based media. When Elon Musk advised, “Don’t hate the media, become the media.” he may not have fully realized himself how much change that might bring about.

*Note: Not following this rule is famously a form of manipulation. It has generated traditional industry expressions like “buried lede” and “below the fold.” For example, the headine is “Delivery man charged with horrific murder.” Below the fold of the newspaper, 23 paragraphs down is, “All the charges were dropped. Police say the suspect was misidentified.”