Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, said in May that web publishing is not dying. Nick Fox, VP of Search at Google, said in May that the web is thriving. But in a court document filed by Google on late Friday, Google's lawyers wrote, "The fact is that today, the open web is already in rapid decline."
This document can be found over here (PDF) and on the top of page five, it says:
The fact is that today, the open web is already in rapid decline and Plaintiffs’ divestiture proposal would only accelerate that decline, harming publishers who currently rely on open-web display advertising revenue.
Here is a screenshot:
I spotted this via Jason Kint who posted about it on X about this:
More here on their filing. https://t.co/jnayHoFGng
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 6, 2025
This statement seems to contradict what Google's top executives said just months ago and agrees with what the open web community has been saying for several months now.
Of course, some may read into this statement differently.
Forum discussion at X.
Glad this is being covered as it would suggest either Google executives have been lying to the public and investors for months or to a Court. It’s important context, Barry, to note this is in their actual arguments why they shouldn’t have to divest their adjudicated monopolies. https://t.co/JZVsKiosPa
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 8, 2025
Update: Dan Taylor, Vice President, Global Ads at Google, responded on X:
Barry - in the preceding sentence, it’s clear that Google's referring to ‘open-web display advertising' – not the open web as a whole. As you know, ad budgets follow where users spend time and marketers see results, increasingly in places like Connected TV, Retail Media & more.
— Dan Taylor (@edantaylor) September 8, 2025
I honestly don't think it makes any difference at all.
Update 2: Google's lawyers are now updating these documents:
Here are the four instances they've now changed "open web" to say "open-web display advertising." I'll let you read to decide whether it was shorthand or a legal argument at odds with legal arguments in other circuits, public relations, investor relations and rabid loyalists. /2 pic.twitter.com/I3ZgLuCIRE
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 9, 2025
This is the best example. Google says “open-web publishers” and “open-web display” elsewhere in the same paragraph but now argue in the press and legal filings that "open web" was just shorthand for "open-web display advertising." Okey dokey. /4 pic.twitter.com/3GXpubL0ct
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) September 9, 2025
