The existence of Google's 'secret program' revealed in the antitrust lawsuit

In a lawsuit filed against Google by the antitrust law, judicial authorities in 10 states in the United States ``abused a monopoly position in search to impede competition'', Google submitted an unedited document. The existence of a secret program ' Project Bernanke ' that makes the in-house advertising purchase system more advantageous than the competitor's product was found.

Google's Secret 'Project Bernanke' Revealed in Texas Antitrust Case - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/googles-secret-project-bernanke-revealed-in-texas-antitrust-case-11618097760

Google reportedly ran secret 'Project Bernanke' that boosted its own ad-buying system over competitors - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/11/22378296/google-secret-project-bernanke-ad-buying-competitors-texas

Google gamed its ad auction system to favor its own ads, generated $213 million | AppleInsider
https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/04/11/google-bernanke-revealed-in-ad-business-antitrust-lawsuit-error

Google not only operates Google Ads, which is an advertising service, but also publishes its own advertisements through Google Ads, and in Google Ads it plays the role of both 'operator' and 'client'. As a result, judicial authorities in Texas and other states filed a lawsuit in December 2020, claiming that Google used the dual position of operator and client to 'unreasonably raise the advertising price.'

Google faces further antitrust lawsuits, now suspected of collusion with Facebook - GIGAZINE

by Ben Nuttall

What was newly revealed in the documents submitted to this trial was the existence of the program ' Project Bernanke ' inherent in the ad buying system that Google has kept secret. This project Bernanke refers to the bid history of past Google advertising auctions and presents the optimal bid amount to make it easier for clients to win the ad impression auction. In response to the materials, judicial authorities in the state of Texas and others pointed out that ``There is a suspicion that Project Bernanke was operated using proprietary information obtained from Google advertising, etc., in order to overcome the ad buying systems of competitors.'' , citing Google's internal documents, claiming that 'Project Bernanke earned $ 230 million (about 25.2 billion yen) in 2013 alone.'

In response to this claim, a Google spokesperson said, ``Project Bernanke only uses ``data comparable to competitors' tools'' and ``misrepresents many aspects of the advertising technology business.'' argued. 'I can't wait for the court,' he added. On the other hand, Google resubmitted the submitted document, which revealed the existence of Project Bernanke, as ``not being properly edited''.

In addition to this antitrust lawsuit over the advertising market, Google not only has an antitrust lawsuit related to the search market , but also monopolizes the payment of news usage fees in March 2021. Suspicion of violation of the Antimonopoly Act has been reported, and an investigation into the cookieless advertising system ' Privacy Sandbox ' has started due to suspicion of violation of the Antimonopoly Act.

A new system pointed out to be 'worst' under development by Google started investigation as soon as possible due to violation of antitrust law - GIGAZINE