The Penske lawsuit is the wake-up call every digital marketer needs

Penske Media’s lawsuit against Google feels entirely predictable, and for good reason. History shows us that tech giants will hoover up content wholesale until legal action forces their hand. We saw it with the decade-long court battles over Google Books, and it took a billion-dollar lawsuit from Viacom to create YouTube's copyright tools. Expecting good faith is a failing strategy.

This fight simply exposes the deeply flawed, almost parasocial relationship publishers have developed with Google. For years, they’ve been content to be fed traffic in exchange for the wholesale commoditisation of their content, without realising they were the turkeys being fattened up for Christmas. A failure to innovate their revenue models left them vulnerable to this inevitability.

And while the predictable cries of ‘fair use’ echo from Silicon Valley, their actions tell a different story. OpenAI’s decision to pen licensing deals with major publications is a clear admission that they know this data isn’t free. They understand that, legally and ethically, they need to pay for the content that powers their models. For those less forthcoming, Anthropic’s recent $1.5bn copyright settlement shows the law still has teeth.

But individual lawsuits are just treating the symptoms. The publishing industry is fighting for its survival, and it needs a unified front. A collective push is the only way to prevent big tech from abstracting away the very concept of ownership.

So, what does this mean for marketers?

It’s tempting to view this as a publishing issue, but isn't it exactly the same problem for marketers? Aren't we just as guilty of relying on Google, Meta—and as B2B marketers, LinkedIn—to generate the metrics we use to validate our jobs? Just as publishers allowed Google to become their primary distributor, we have let it become the monopolistic gateway to our audiences, both organically and through paid channels.

This isn’t a future threat; it’s happening now. We are already seeing AI integration abstract away our specialism and algorithmic tweaks sever the direct connection with our audience. Your carefully crafted, expert-led content is becoming little more than raw material.

Google’s practices are already being challenged in the courts, but do we really want to take a wait-and-see approach and hope the legal system works in our favour? The only real defence is to start wresting back control. As I always say, "control your controllables." Instead of pouring all your equity into platforms you don’t own, invest in the assets that build authority that can't be taken away. Your website, your mailing lists, your case studies, even your WhatsApp or Discord channels—these are the platforms where you can build authentic relationships, free from the whims of an opaque algorithm or AI profiteering.