Is the web thriving or faltering? Google has an unexpected take in a new legal filing. Google is heading back to court soon in hopes of convincing a judge that it should not have to split up its ad business. The company lost its adtech antitrust case earlier this year, and now it's up to the court to decide on remedies for the illegal conduct. In its response to the DOJ's requested remedies, Google made a startling claim: "The fact is that today, the open web is already in rapid decline."

Google says that forcing it to divest its AdX marketplace would hasten the demise of wide swaths of the web that are dependent on advertising revenue. This is one of several reasons Google asks the court to deny the government's request. The DOJ also tried to force a divestment of Chrome in the search

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