For months, Google has stood firm on its message that the web is healthy, AI tools aren’t draining clicks, and its search engine is funneling people to a wider variety of websites than ever before.
However, a recent court filing revealed a strikingly different narrative.
In a filing submitted last week, ahead of a trial over its dominance in the advertising technology market, Google acknowledged that “the open web is already in rapid decline.” The admission, spotted by analyst Jason Kint and reported by Search Engine Roundtable, marks a sharp departure from the company’s upbeat public narrative.
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The disclosure is part of Google’s strategy to defend itself against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which has recommended breaking up the company’s ad tech business. Google argues that such a divestiture would not revive competition but instead “accelerate” the collapse of the open web, harming publishers reliant on open-web display advertising.
Google’s Filing
“Finally, while Plaintiffs continue to advance essentially the same divestiture remedies they noticed in their complaint filed in January 2023, the world has continued to turn,” Google wrote in the filing.
The company added that the DOJ is acting as if the “incredibly dynamic ad tech ecosystem had stood still” while judicial proceedings dragged on.
According to Google, ad tech is undergoing seismic changes: AI is reshaping the industry, and advertisers are shifting rapidly toward formats outside the open web, such as Connected TV and retail media.
“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,” the filing read.
Public Narrative vs. Courtroom Reality
The admission stands in stark contrast to Google’s recent public defense of its search product. As AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity gain popularity and Google itself rolls out AI-powered search overviews, many publishers and independent site owners have reported declining traffic. Yet, Google executives have consistently countered that the web is “thriving.”
In May, CEO Sundar Pichai told Decoder that Google was “definitely sending traffic to a wider range of sources and publishers” with its new AI search features. Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of knowledge, echoed that defense in June on the AI Inside podcast, insisting “the web is thriving.” Search chief Liz Reid cited Pew Research data to argue that while user behavior is changing, click volume remains “relatively stable” year-on-year.
After the courtroom filing surfaced, Google sought to downplay the remarks. Company spokesperson Jackie Berté told The Verge the “decline” line was being misrepresented, emphasizing that the context referred to “open-web display advertising,” not the open web as a whole.
“We are pointing out the obvious: that investments in non-open web display advertising like connected TV and retail media are growing at the expense of those in open web display advertising,” Berté said.
Still, the dissonance between Google’s courtroom arguments and its public messaging highlights the shifting reality of the digital economy. Publishers—already struggling with reduced referral traffic and tighter advertising margins—see the rise of AI-driven answers as an existential threat, one Google seems reluctant to acknowledge outside a courtroom.
Some analysts note that Google’s acknowledgement, even if framed around advertising rather than search, reinforces the mounting challenges faced by newsrooms and independent sites. With advertising dollars flowing toward walled gardens such as Amazon’s retail media network, YouTube, and streaming platforms, the open web’s share of digital ad spending continues to shrink.
As the DOJ trial continues, Google’s lucrative ad tech business faces an existential challenge – that could redefine how digital advertising operates. For publishers caught in the middle, the fight is not just about competition—it’s about survival.