By Sara Vincent, Utiq Managing Director, UK
The open web might only be a few decades old, but it is at the very core of our world. It is a reflection of society – a place where we share opinions, interact and learn. Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation, called it “a global public resource, like clean water or the environment. Something we all depend on: to communicate and create, to work and play, to buy and sell.”
So when I hear people casually talking about the death of the open web, or Google’s startling admission in a recent court filing that the open web is “already in rapid decline” – I think we all need to consider how incredibly scary those sentiments are, and what they really mean.
When people talk about the death of democracy, or the death of society, everyone knows exactly how serious that would be. Where those precious things are in peril, we need to ring alarm bells, and we do – in the current climate, we do it all too often.
But what people don’t always seem to realise is that the open web underpins those fragile systems, and much more. Without it, there is no democracy, no accountability, no sensibility.
What we really mean when we talk about the open web
Let’s start with definitions. We know, of course, that not all content that makes up the open web is created equal. This isn’t a defence of MFA sites, clickbait, irresponsible ‘sticky’ content or brand safety hazards. Maybe we should talk instead about what you might call the premium web – trusted content that can be accessed via deals and private marketplaces, curated or fully OMP (open marketplace). On a level playing field, this is the type of content to which advertising ideally gravitates.
Here, in the beating heart of the open web, quality independent publishers pay humans to write and report on events. Facts are checked, accuracy and impartiality are prized. Readers return again and again, seeking out content they know they can trust. Livelihoods are funded. Sensibility – our ability and freedom to decide what is good or valuable – reigns.
Even just a few years ago, arguments about the vital importance of honest and truthful journalism, while certainly true, tended to land as a bit of a sales pitch, met with a shrug and an eye-roll. “Yes, yes – the world is fine, journalism will keep on coming, truth will find a way to surface – you’re just trying to sell advertising.”
These days, those beliefs all look a lot less certain. But what is inarguable is that we’ll miss those things – journalism, an enlightened world, inescapable truths – when they are gone. And as it stands, the open web is the essential medium through which they travel to us.
The stakes couldn’t be higher
Without access to honest, credible content, drawn from a full spectrum of perspectives, we have a very real threat to our democracies and to our societies as a whole. Impartial journalism has an increasingly evident role in exposing fake news, verifying facts and providing information we all need if we are to exercise our vote, determine where we should place our trust and form meaningful opinions.
Discriminating, rigorous journalism is our portal to a full picture of unfolding political, judicial and social events, honest science, power structures and vested interests. We need this information for a functioning democracy, in which we can make informed decisions on how to structure our communities and live alongside each other in a world we have chosen.
If this all makes it sound like our world is under threat, and that the open web is an essential part of keeping it safe, I’d suggest those aren’t unreasonable conclusions.
So what can we do about it?
We can support the open web. We can fund the publishers whose content we trust. As readers, as advertisers and as an industry, we need to put our money where our mouth is and ask what kind of information, what kind of media infrastructure, what kind of world we want.
This is a call to arms for the industry to get behind innovation that was purposely built to support the open web and bring back ad dollars to the places where the best content comes from.
We need to make the open web competitive and compelling, driving better outcomes so that brands have a real choice on where to spend – a choice that is not only driven by a desire to do the right thing but by a certainty of better results for our businesses and our clients.
If we do that, we will build the foundation of a sustainable open web that will not only serve brands, publishers and readers, but that can potentially do untold good – and prevent untold harm – in the societies in which we live.
