Google uses covert software in its ad buying system that has given it an advantage over its competitors, as shown in the unwritten court documents in the Texas (US) antitrust lawsuit against the tech company.
The documents, which the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) have access to, record the existence of a program, known as Project Bernanke, that Google has run for years and has not been shared with publishers who have sold ads through their systems.
Project Bernanke used data from previous digital ad purchases by publishers to direct them toward the price they would have to pay, which, according to the aforementioned lawsuit, generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually.
For its part, Google, which acknowledged the existence of the said program, defended its use, claiming that there was nothing inappropriate in using the exclusive information it had access to.
The documents are part of Google's response to Texas' antitrust lawsuit filed in December last year, accusing the internet giant of operating a digital advertising monopoly to harm both industry competitors and investors.
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