#237 - Court Dismisses Several WP Engine Claims, WP Release Cycle Concerns

Issue #237 | September 17, 2025 | Reading time: 18 mins

Hello!

This week on The WP Week Newsletter, we cover the court dismissing several of WP Engine’s claims, the WordPress 6.9 release cycle progresses without documentation leads raising concerns, new projects, and more.

Don’t forget to subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter, where you can hear more details and discussions about these topics and more.

See you next week!

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

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🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN

The court dismissed several of WP Engine and Silver Lake’s claims

Matt Mullenweg announced that the court had dismissed the most serious claims, antitrust, monopolization, and extortion against Automattic.

📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

WordPress release cycle continues without documentation leads and contributors voice concerns over documentation’s role and value

The WordPress 6.9 release cycle is underway, but it follows the same path as the WordPress 6.8 release, moving forward without any documentation team leads. As the release team experiments with a smaller team to reduce coordination overhead, the decision not to include documentation leads in the release cycle is raising concerns in the community.

Two-factor authentication is required for all people with the capabilities to publish on make/core: Starting September 16, 2025, WordPress.org requires two-factor authentication for all users who can publish on make/core. Accounts without 2FA will be temporarily demoted to contributor until 2FA is enabled.
Announcing the Core Program Team: The goal of this team is to strengthen coordination across Core, improve efficiency, and make contribution easier. It will focus on documenting practices, surfacing roadmaps, and supporting new teams with clear processes.
What’s new for developers? (September 2025): Ryan Welcher provided an update on all the changes that have landed in WordPress and the Gutenberg plugin recently.
What’s new in Gutenberg 21.6: The latest version introduces a new “add” accordion button, improved Dataviews grid interface, various other enhancements, and bug fixes.
A month in Core – August 2025: In August,162 people contributed 173 commits, with 37 first-time contributors. No new WP release occurred, but development for 6.9 is underway. The most active components included Build/Test Tools, Docs, Bundled Themes, and Media.
Attackers actively exploiting critical vulnerability in Case Theme User plugin: This vulnerability makes it possible for an unauthenticated attacker to gain access to any account on a site including accounts used to administer the site, if the attacker knows, or can find, the associated email address. All users are urged to update to the latest version immediately.
600,000 WordPress sites affected by PHP object injection vulnerability in Fluent Forms WordPress plugin: The vulnerability that allowed authenticated users to read arbitrary files on affected sites was patched recently. All users are advised to update to the latest version immediately.
WooCommerce September Office Hours: Dive into the Product Collection block: The office hours scheduled to take place on September 17, 2025 will provide insights into the Product Collection block and influence its future development through your feedback. Also, WooCommerce users can now sync their orders with Square.
Automattic’s Transparency Report Update: January – June 2025: Automattic highlights progress on user rights and safety by design. More users are accessing and deleting their data, with faster response times, while reporting of harmful content, especially on Tumblr, has increased.
Google retiring Core Web Vitals CrUX dashboard: Google has announced that the CrUX Dashboard, the Looker Studio-based visualization tool for CrUX data, will be retired at the end of November 2025.
Google AI Max for Search goes global in beta: Google’s AI Max for Search is now in global beta with one-click experiments and an upcoming text guidelines feature to steer brand-safe creative.
Anthropic agrees to $1.5B settlement over pirated books: Anthropic agreed to a proposed $1.5B settlement over pirated books used to train Claude. If approved, eligible titles would receive about $3,000 each.
WordPress versus everyone: The Top CMS for Core Web Vitals: The Core Web Vitals Technology Report by the open source HTTPArchive community ranks content management systems by how well they perform on Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV). The July update shows that every major platform has improved since June, but not all gains were equal. Joomla posted the largest month-over-month increase, while Duda ranked first in July with 84.96% of sites passing CWV.

💵 INVESTMENTS, ACQUISITIONS & PARTNERSHIPS

Ahrefs acquires Detailed.com & SEO extension: Ahrefs has acquired Detailed.com and the Detailed SEO Extension, and Founder Glen Allsopp joins Ahrefs full-time.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

WooCommerce Multilingual renamed to WPML Multilingual & Multicurrency for WooCommerce

The plugin has been renamed following WordPress.org’s trademark guidelines. Apart from the name change, nothing else has changed, and all features and functionality remain the same.

Summer Photo Contest 2025 winners announced: Pablo Moratinos took first place, Meenakshi Bose secured second, and Nora Ferreirós finished in third. Also, Alina Kakshapati received special mention for her submission.
WordCamp Canada 2025 introduces a full day of workshops: The organizers have added a full day of hands-on workshops included in the $100 ticket, offering two tracks, a Beginners Track that covers WordPress setup, accessibility, and SEO, and a Developer Track with advanced block development and practical sessions led by experts.
Prepathon’25 by Cloudways: A free, three-day online event (Sept 30–Oct 2) designed to help ecommerce businesses and agencies adapt to the next generation of AI-driven, mobile-first shoppers. Registrations are now open.
Underrepresented in Tech Podcast featured on two lists by MillionPodcasts: Underrepresented in Tech was ranked 4th on the Best 40 Women in Tech Podcasts list and 94th on the Best 100 Diversity and Inclusion Podcasts list.
ACF Annual Survey 2025 results published: The survey saw the participation of 960 users, with 67% of them using ACF on all their websites. A few of the findings show that the most popular ACF extensions are ACF Extended, ACF Multilingual by WPML, Gravity Forms add-on, and Content Analysis for Yoast SEO. The most popular page builders are Elementor, Bricks builder, Divi, and WPBakery.
OSI charts next phase for the organization with executive director search: The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is beginning the search for a new executive director as Stefano Maffulli steps down in October to focus on Open Source AI and data governance.
The Typeform Awards 2025: The nominations are open till September 29, 2025 and the winners will be announced on October 23, 2025. The prizes include a $100 gift card, a feature at Typeforum, a custom trophy, blog and social media recognition (plus a ready-to-share social kit), and exclusive swag.
Preview of Abilities API in WooCommerce: James Kemp provided a demo to showcase how the Abilities API could be used in WooCommerce in the future. He also created a Goodreads reading list block with the help of Telex.
All new Language Switcher for TranslatePress launched: Adi Spiac on X highlighted the fully redesigned and rebuilt Language Switcher, which is now more flexible, customizable, and easier to use.
Presto Player introduces Presto Popups: Presto Player 4.0.0 for WordPress now introduces Presto Popups, allowing videos to appear in stylish pop-up overlays triggered by images, buttons, or custom blocks.
Kinsta names Jon Penland new CEO and Matt Reid as CMO: Kinsta named Jon Penland, former COO, as CEO and Matt Reid, former SVP at BigCommerce, as CMO to lead its growth, customer experience, and global expansion.
Dan Tabifranca receives the Yoast Care fund for his contribution to the WordPress community: Dan Tabifranca, a member of the WordPress Polyglots Team is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care fund.

🚀 NEW PROJECTS

Introducing Ablad: Claudio is building the first Cursor for WordPress in the world with Ablad, the first AI assistant that truly understands WordPress.
Really Simple Licensing plugin launched: The plugin created by James LePage implements RSL for WordPress. It defines machine-readable licensing terms for your content, enabling AI companies, crawlers, and other automated systems to properly license your digital assets. Matt Mullenweg also blogged about it.
New CRUD editor by Ciprian Popescu: He has provided a preview of the editor and is now finalizing its name, with “Texel” being the current choice.
DebugHawk is now live: DebugHawk, a new WordPress performance monitoring tool created by Ashley Rich and Lewis Warren, that allows users to diagnose performance issues in seconds. With it, users can view browser and server-side performance data in a single unified dashboard.
All new LogPress App: An all-in-one mobile app designed to simplify WordPress management.
Wavinai Search: A free WooCommerce plugin using a token-based algorithm for fast, accurate search with customizable results and filters.
WordVell platform launched: A new platform for WordPress developers offering curated blogs, guides, and tool insights to build better and faster.
AI Product Image Generator for WooCommerce: The plugin created by w7s transforms your WooCommerce product listings with AI-generated images directly from your WordPress media library, eliminating the need for expensive photo shoots or stock photography subscriptions.
Announcing LinkCentral: This is a WordPress link shortener plugin with built-in QR codes, dynamic redirects, and click tracking, designed especially for affiliates and bloggers.
The non-techie’s roadmap to website success: The roadmap created by Christina Hills is a free PDF and video training designed to guide beginners through creating a professional, hassle-free WordPress website.
Make WordPress Fast course by Remkus de Vries: He has launched “Make WordPress Fast”, a comprehensive 25-module course aimed at WordPress professionals, agencies, and freelancers.
Synced Patterns for Themes: This plugin enables theme developers to ship patterns that behave as synced patterns (reusable blocks) while maintaining the benefits of theme-bundled patterns.
Introducing WPBakery Excerpt Talks: The new podcast features in-depth conversations with WordPress business owners, team members, or professionals from related tech companies and SaaS providers. The first episode is now live, featuring Tom Fanelli of Convesio.
Simple Search Submission for IndexNow: A simplified plugin for submitting crawl requests to search engines supporting IndexNow.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

More posts and podcasts from the WordPress Community you don’t want to miss

Matt Mullenweg on his vision of AI in tech and WordPress: Matt Mullenweg shared his vision for how AI is reshaping the WordPress ecosystem. From the Core AI initiative to Elementor’s “Angie,” to the WP AI builder and new AI-powered browsers, Matt has been vocal that this is one of the most exciting moments in WordPress history. From WP Product Talk.
In conversation with Beth Soderberg: Beth Soderberg discusses her path into the WordPress ecosystem, from discovering it during the 2008 recession to co-founding Bethink Studio, a values-driven agency specializing in development, information architecture, and project management. From Seriously, Bud.
Rachel Cherry and Alex Aspinall on the state of WordPress in higher education: The podcast explored the newly released ‘State of WordPress in Higher Education 2025’ report, covering challenges like slow block editor adoption, managing large multisite networks, and the demand for enterprise-level tools to support colleges and universities. From WP Tavern Jukebox.
Expanding WordPress capabilities with Angie and the power of multi-agentic AI: In this episode from WordCamp US 2025, Elementor’s Miriam Schwab and Shilo Eish Yemini introduce Angie, an AI-powered assistant for WordPress. Using their Model Context Protocol (MCP), Angie offers smarter, context-aware site management and integrates with popular tools like WooCommerce. From OpenChannels.fm.
Women in WordPress: Meher Bala: Michelle Frechette talks with Meher Bala, Chief Operating Officer at KDC and a WordPress front-end developer and Codeable Expert. From Post Status.
WordPress Loading Sequence: Remkus de Vries explained the full WordPress loading sequence, from server URL rewriting to final template rendering. From Remkus de Vries.
WordCamp Gdynia goes bilingual, promising international speakers, parties, and a pirate ship: Kicking off in the seaside city on September 26, WordCamp Gdynia will debut a bilingual format alongside a packed program, international speakers, and plenty of parties. From The Repository.
Why WordPress Core needs more blocks: Justin Tadlock argues that WordPress Core should include more blocks to empower theme authors and users. While he once supported keeping Core lean and leaving customization to plugins and themes, the block editor’s rise has exposed limitations in the current toolset. From Gutenberg Times.
The sparkle paradox: How AI signalling undermines adoption: Tammie Lister explains how using sparkle icons to indicate AI features, once helpful, is now often driving users away. Overexposure and poor experiences have made people associate sparkles with unreliable or unwanted interactions.
Dealing with aggressive sales tactics in WordPress: Toby and Kurt explore the complexities of running a WordPress agency. They discuss the challenges posed by aggressive sales tactics in the industry, the ethics of client relationships, and the importance of intentionality in business operations. From The WP Minute.
Pressable’s Phil Thompson on empathy in tech support: Phil Thompson from Pressable discusses the importance of human connection in customer support, the challenges of handling plugin issues, and the dynamics of agency partnerships. From The WP Minute.
The case for WordPress: A home base for end users: Maria Ansari highlights WordPress as a reliable, scalable, and cost-effective platform for end users. With full content ownership, a vast plugin ecosystem, and strong community support, it empowers bloggers, solopreneurs, and small businesses to grow online without being locked into subscription-based platforms. From The WP Minute.
Beeper’s plan for 100 million users with CEO Kishan Bagaria: Jason Howell and Ron Richards, Beeper’s new CEO Kishan Bagaria shares the app’s evolution, the potential of AI integration, and a shift to on-device privacy. From Daily Tech News Show.

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

Bulk content and media management across multiple WordPress sites: From Kinsta
Building a light/dark toggle with the Interactivity API: From WordPress Developer Blog
How to collect email addresses with gated content on WordPress sites: From WordPress.com

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

LoopConf 2025 on September 25: The full schedule is now available.
WordCamp Gdynia 2025 on September 26–28: The tickets are now available, and the full schedule has also been published.
WP Suomi 2025 on October 10: The tickets are now available.
WP Agency Forum on Oct 15, 2025: The tickets are now available.
WordCamp Canada on October 16-17 2025: The call for sponsors is now open. The first round of the speaker list has been published, and the tickets are also now available.
WordCamp Nepal 2026 on January 23-24: The call for media partners is now open. The call for volunteers is now open, and also early bird tickets now available.
WordCamp Asia 2026 on April 9-11: The venue has been announced. The call for speakers is now open.
SomeConf 2026 on April 22-23: The tickets are now available.
Checkout Summit 2026 on April 23-24, 2026: The call for sponsors is now open. The early bird tickets will release on September 18.
WordCamp Europe 2026 on June 4-6: The event is in the early planning stages.

🎁 WORDPRESS DEALS OF THE WEEK

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4 Months free offer on hosting plans of WP Engine (Coupon Code- FREEDOMTOCREATE)
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