18 12 months previous, publicly traded schooling know-how firm, Chegg, has sued Google over its AI Overviews and the way it has damage their site visitors and income. Chegg has “filed a criticism in opposition to Google, which has unjustly retained site visitors that has traditionally come to Chegg, impacting our acquisitions, income and workers,” said Nathan Schultz, CEO of Chegg.
They stated, “Sadly, site visitors is being blocked from ever coming to Chegg due to Google’s AIO and their use of Chegg’s content material to maintain guests on their very own platform. We retained Goldman Sachs because the monetary advisor in reference to our strategic overview and Susman Godfrey with respect to our criticism in opposition to Google.”
Right here is extra from that assertion:
Whereas we made vital headway on our know-how, product, and advertising and marketing packages, 2024 got here with a collection of challenges, together with the fast evolution of the content material panorama, significantly the rise of Google AIO, which as I beforehand talked about, has had a profound impression on Chegg’s site visitors, income, and workforce. As already talked about, we’re submitting a criticism in opposition to Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Columbia, making three principal arguments.
First is reciprocal dealing, that means that Google forces firms like Chegg to provide our proprietary content material with the intention to be included in Google’s search perform.
Second is monopoly upkeep, or that Google unfairly workout routines its monopoly energy inside search and different anti-competitive conduct to muscle out firms like Chegg.
And third is unjust enrichment, that means Google is reaping the monetary advantages of Chegg’s content material with out having to spend a dime.
As we allege in our criticism, Google AIO has reworked Google from a “search engine” into an “reply engine,” displaying AI-generated content material sourced from third-party websites like Chegg. Google’s enlargement of AIO forces site visitors to stay on Google, eliminating the necessity to go to third-party content material supply websites. The impression on Chegg’s enterprise is evident. Our non-subscriber site visitors plummeted to destructive 49% in January 2025, down considerably from the modest 8% decline we reported in Q2 2024.
We consider this isn’t nearly Chegg—it’s about college students shedding entry to high quality, step-by-step studying in favor of low-quality, unverified AI summaries. It’s in regards to the digital publishing business. It’s about the way forward for web search.
In abstract, our criticism challenges Google’s unfair competitors, which is unjust, dangerous, and unsustainable. Whereas these proceedings are simply beginning, we consider bringing this lawsuit is each crucial and well-founded.
As you possibly can think about, that is how a ton of publishers and web site house owners really feel. The AI Overviews and the development now we have seen with Google sending us much less and fewer site visitors over time, has been actually actually upsetting and financially hurtful.
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda stated, “With AI Overviews, individuals discover Search extra useful and use it extra, creating new alternatives for content material to be found. Each day, Google sends billions of clicks to websites throughout the net, and AI Overviews ship site visitors to a higher range of web sites.”
There isn’t any query, most of us see that nobody is clicking on links within AI Overviews, in reality, current research confirmed AI Overviews result in horrible click-through rates.
Case and level:
Extra in regards to the Chegg lawsuit in opposition to Google about AIOs -> Is AI Overview Killing Web site Site visitors? Chegg’s Authorized Battle with Google Defined
And Chegg is getting a ton of visibility with a few of these queries, rating properly within the AIO, within the Questions & Solutions SERP function, AND… pic.twitter.com/LsGrj3N19c
— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) February 25, 2025
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