Google Admits Web Traffic is Declining in Court Filing

Google has finally admitted to a notable decline in open web traffic, which is a surprising development. Contrary to the company's earlier assertions that everything was stable, this admission was made in a court filing pertaining to an antitrust case.

Google's New Position and the Lawsuit

Ahead of a trial in which the U.S. Department of Justice is attempting to dismantle Google's advertising business, the tech giant acknowledged the situation. Google, on the other hand, is opposing this, saying that a split would only exacerbate the open web's decline and hurt publishers who rely on ad revenue.

Google claimed in the court filing that the "open web is already in rapid decline" and cited emerging factors like the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and non-open web ad formats like retail media and connected television. The business contended that these market forces are already changing the industry and that a forced split would be ineffective and hasten the demise of an already fragile ecosystem.

Is AI at fault?

Although Google has long maintained that its AI models don't negatively impact web traffic, the recent court filing presents an alternative viewpoint. A significant decline in traffic has been reported by publishers, and many think this is due to AI models that scrape content and give users direct answers, eliminating the need to visit the original source.

Later, Jackie Berté, a Google spokesperson, told The Verge that the company's court statement was a misrepresentation of their meaning and that they were talking about a drop in "open web display advertising," not total web traffic. However, this distinction doesn't help publishers who are already struggling.

Effects on Publishers

Regardless of the technicality, this admission demonstrates the increasing conflict between Google's business strategy and the open web's viability. Publishers are faced with a more challenging environment as AI develops and changes how people find information: their content is used to train models, undermining their ad-supported business models.