This information follows a lawsuit filed by ten states back in December 2020, in which a handful of Republican attorneys general sued the tech giant for forming a monopoly around its web search and digital advertising services. The complaint pointed out that Facebook had emerged in 2017 as a viable Google competitor, and that Google had swiftly taken care of the potential rivalry by initiating a tradeoff: Facebook would scale back its competitive actions in return for preferential treatment in Google-run ad auctions. Over the span of 12 years, the suit alleged, Google had gradually dominated the digital advertising market, beginning with its acquisition of DoubleClick in 2008.
Coincidentally (or not), this followed a separate lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice two months prior, in which the DOJ alleged that Google had abused its position in the market to hobble its competitors and keep its place at the top of the search and advertising food chain. Of course, Google denied the claims made in both suits, calling them “baseless” and “meritless” while promising to defend itself tirelessly in court.
(Photo: Solen Feyissa/Unsplash)
Much of the December lawsuit has been redacted for the last year, leaving most of the public out of the loop when it came to the details of Google’s supposed wrongdoings. Now a federal judge has decided an amended version of the complaint could be unsealed, allowing unredacted fragments of the suit to rise to the surface. Among them is the allegation that Google created secret programs within its ad auctions that increased advertising costs for buyers while decreasing sales for companies.
One program within Google’s secret repertoire involved the company using an advertiser’s previous bids to set minimum prices for that specific advertiser, resulting in higher bids going forward. Another program changed the fee inherent to Google’s ad exchange to help Google’s own tools win auctions they previously would have lost. According to the complaint—which cites internal correspondence among Google employees—the company pocketed the extra revenue and used it to manipulate future auctions and grow its digital monopoly.
The case (along with the DOJ’s lawsuit) isn’t set to go to trial until 2023. Much like the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint against Facebook, Google could be forced to sell off its monopolizing assets (including DoubleClick) if the final verdict isn’t in its favor.
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