Judge dismisses antitrust lawsuits over Google’s AI Overviews
Judge dismisses antitrust lawsuits over Google’s AI Overviews
法官驳回针对谷歌 AI Overviews 的反垄断诉讼
A federal judge has dismissed a pair of antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Rolling Stone parent company Penske Media Corporation, which accused Google of driving away web traffic with its AI-powered search features, as reported earlier by Reuters. US District Judge Amit Mehta takes Google’s side in a ruling on Wednesday, writing that PMC and Chegg’s claims don’t stand up to antitrust law.
据路透社早前报道，一位联邦法官驳回了由 Chegg 和《滚石》杂志母公司 Penske Media Corporation (PMC) 提起的两起反垄断诉讼。原告指控谷歌利用其人工智能搜索功能抢走了网站流量。美国地方法官阿米特·梅塔（Amit Mehta）在周三的裁决中支持谷歌，指出 PMC 和 Chegg 的主张在反垄断法面前站不住脚。
In lawsuits filed last year, Chegg and PMC accused Google of abusing its monopoly power by coercing publishers into supplying content for AI Overviews for free, or risk disappearing from search results. The publishers alleged Google’s practices diverted traffic away from their sites, hurting their revenue.
在去年提起的诉讼中，Chegg 和 PMC 指控谷歌滥用垄断权力，强迫出版商免费提供内容用于 AI Overviews，否则将面临从搜索结果中消失的风险。出版商声称，谷歌的做法将流量从他们的网站上引走，从而损害了他们的收入。
Judge Mehta, who made a landmark antitrust ruling against Google in 2024, disagrees with Chegg and PMC’s claims. “Plaintiffs have pleaded only that they have an ‘expectation’ that Google will send them search traffic if they make their content available for free,” Mehta writes. “But an expectation is not an agreement. It is simply how a general search engine works.”
曾在 2024 年对谷歌做出里程碑式反垄断裁决的梅塔法官并不认同 Chegg 和 PMC 的主张。梅塔写道：“原告仅辩称，他们有一种‘期望’，即如果他们免费提供内容，谷歌就会向他们发送搜索流量。但期望并非协议。这仅仅是通用搜索引擎的工作方式。”
Mehta adds that the court is not “unsympathetic to the situation publishers now find themselves in,” but writes that antitrust rules can’t replace a legislative body’s decision to address the economic impact of “new innovation.”
梅塔补充说，法院并非“不同情出版商目前所处的困境”，但他写道，反垄断规则不能取代立法机构为解决“新创新”带来的经济影响而做出的决策。
Meanwhile, publishers continue to see effects of Google’s AI-powered search overhaul, with traffic to news outlets and small websites taking a steep dive. This week, The Information reported that Google is paying around 100 publishers for their contributions to AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini as part of a pilot program.
与此同时，出版商们仍在承受谷歌人工智能搜索改革带来的影响，新闻媒体和小型网站的流量大幅下滑。本周，《The Information》报道称，作为试点项目的一部分，谷歌正在向约 100 家出版商支付费用，以获取他们对 AI Overviews、AI Mode 和 Gemini 的内容贡献。
Disclosure: The Verge is part of Penske Media.
披露：The Verge 隶属于 Penske Media。