Five students were caught cheating. Now it’s gone to court in a landmark case

US-based publicly listed company Chegg markets itself as a “study help” website, but it’s long been a thorn in the side of Australian academic integrity units.

Universities have accused it of helping students cheat on their assignments and exams, a claim it vigorously defends.

Australia’s anti-cheating laws are being tested in court for the first time.Credit: Oscar Colman

Now, in an Australian first, the government has taken Chegg to court, accusing it of falling foul of the country’s anti-cheating laws.

Documents seen by this masthead reveal the case is based on five university students accused of using the website to cheat.

Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) alleges that in 2021 and 2022, five Monash University students used the service to help complete exams and assessments in IT, engineering and physics courses.

The students uploaded copies of the assessments to Chegg’s website despite, in some cases, being specifically warned that it was not allowed.

Chegg headquarters in Santa Clara, California.Credit: Bloomberg

“Experts” engaged by Chegg prepared handwritten answers and posted them on the website, court documents said.

Each of the students viewed or downloaded the answers completed by the experts and used them to complete their assessment, TEQSA said.

TEQSA said it was obvious from the questions uploaded to Chegg that they formed part of an assignment, and the company knew or should have known, that it may have been work students were required to complete personally.

The documents said Monash University had suffered harm due to the additional resources it has had to use to monitor and detect students using Chegg’s services.

TEQSA is seeking a declaration from the court that Chegg breached Australian laws by providing or arranging a third party to provide an academic cheating service on five occasions. It also wants Chegg to be fined up to $156,500 and to pay its costs.

Chegg hits back

In a statement, Chegg said TEQSA’s claims relied on a handful of “selective and misleading examples” that did not represent its commitment to protecting academic integrity.

“The lawsuit brought by TEQSA is based on an outdated academic integrity policy, which was formulated long before the rise of AI and its profound impact on education and technology today,” the spokesperson said.

“Despite the rapid advancements in generative AI technology, offering immediate and comprehensive student support, TEQSA seeks to apply backward-thinking policy and continues to single out Chegg’s student-centric products – viewing them more critically than other similar technologies.”

The spokesperson said the company took any attempts to misuse the platform extremely seriously and invested in solutions to prevent such actions.

“TEQSA continues to reject our efforts to address their concerns with innovative solutions, and we look forward to the opportunity to present the full picture and defend ourselves in court, where the facts will demonstrate our commitment to transparency and responsibility,” the spokesperson said.

Since at least March 2021, Chegg offered online services to Australian students through a monthly paid subscription, including a service called “Expert Q&A”.

TEQSA alleges that this service, which allows students to submit questions in various subject areas, has violated Australia’s anti-cheating laws.

The expert Q&A solutions published on the Chegg website are prepared by subject experts, individuals engaged by Chegg to prepare the answers, the court documents said.

The case will come to the Federal Court for a first case management hearing on Monday.

TEQSA said it took the action after receiving concerns from multiple institutions about Chegg’s operations in Australia and engaging with US-based Chegg in an attempt to resolve those concerns.

It’s the first time TEQSA has taken legal action for breaches of Australia’s academic integrity laws, passed in 2020 to make it illegal to provide or advertise a commercial cheating service.

A Monash University spokesperson said its anti-cheating infrastructure enabled it to detect and respond to the instances of academic misconduct.

“TEQSA separately requested documentary evidence which it relied on in its claim against Chegg,” they said.

UNSW’s 2021 academic misconduct report said 257 of the university’s 335 cases of contract cheating involved students posting questions to be answered on Chegg.com.

Sydney University said it had developed a bot to detect university assessment questions with requests posted on Chegg.com in response to increased reports of cheating using the website.

But in late 2022, Chegg stopped providing IP access data, making it difficult for the university to identify specific students who had posted.

TEQSA said it welcomed reports from students, universities, staff and the public about suspected cheating services.

“Where TEQSA finds academic cheating services being advertised or offered to students, we will take appropriate action to protect the integrity and reputation of Australia’s higher education sector,” acting chief commissioner Adrienne Nieuwenhuis said.

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