Google reportedly operates a secret program called the Bernanke Project, which relies on using bidding data collected from advertisers in its AD exchange to benefit the company’s own AD system, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The name of the project was first discovered by MLex, a newswire service, in an unwittingly unredacted document submitted by Google. The filing is part of Google’s antitrust lawsuit in Texas. A federal judge has since allowed Google to restamp the document.
But Bernanke, who did not disclose to outside advertisers, proved hugely profitable for Google, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The state of Texas filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in December, accusing the search giant of using anti-competitive tactics, with Bernanke as the main player. Google wrote in the unredacted document that data from the Bernanke project was “comparable to data maintained by other purchasing tools,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The company was able to gain access to historical data on bidding through Google ads, changing clients’ bids and increasing their chances of winning AD display auctions, putting rival advertising tools at a disadvantage. Texas cited an internal presentation from 2013 in which Google said the Bernanke project would generate $230m in revenue that year.
It’s not clear why Google chose to name the secret project Bernanke. Ben Bernanke, who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 2006 to 2014, is probably the most well-known Bernanke to the public. In an email to The Verge, a Google spokesperson said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s complaint “misrepresents many aspects of our AD technology business. We look forward to filing our case in court.”
This article translated from: www.theverge.com/2021/4/11/2…