Hollywood Publisher Penske’s Lawsuit: “Google has shattered the longstanding bargain that allows the open internet to exist”

In the last week, Google has screwed with the algorithm once again, cutting traffic to websites. The company’s monopoly based wholesale destruction continues.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Google expert gadfly Barry Schwartz posted about it today. (See below.) He writes: “Google Search ranking volatility is still incredibly heated, even more so – this has been really hard on site owners.”

Penske Media — owner of Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and many other publications — is suing Google. In their complaint they write: “Google has shattered the longstanding bargain that allows the open internet to exist.”

Another expert in the field, Jason Klint, writes: “Super smart filing in Penske v Google: For decades, search operated on a “fundamental fair exchange.” – crawl publisher content -> send traffic back to us. – the filing argues Google has shattered that bargain. Now it’s give us your content for AI… or lose traffic from us…”

Again, see below.

Thank goodness publishers like Penske Media are standing up to this bullshit. There are days I could write about a nuclear explosion and Google would bury it under dry cleaner recommendations.

Google Search ranking volatility is still incredibly heated, even more so – this has been really hard on site owners – special Sunday story…. https://t.co/EfnzoIhFZp pic.twitter.com/zoEC4q6mFr

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) February 15, 2026

Super smart filing in Penske v Google:
For decades, search operated on a “fundamental fair exchange."
– crawl publisher content -> send traffic back to us.
– the filing argues Google has shattered that bargain.
Now it’s give us your content for AI… or lose traffic from us. /1 pic.twitter.com/7ioYOE83fY

— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) February 13, 2026