Google misled advertisers about advertising space prices, says newspaper

Google has tricked advertisers for years during processes to determine the prices charged in its ad space sales operations, creating secret programs that indicated lower sales by some companies than had actually been recorded, and artificially inflating the values ​​​​to interested buyers. .

The conclusions are from an investigation still ongoing in the district of New York, in the United States, and were published in a report by The Wall Street Journal this Friday (14).

Also according to the publication’s information, Google pocketed the difference between the value it said the ads cost, versus how much they were, in fact, to manipulate future sales, in order to consolidate its digital monopoly.

The suit alleges that Google’s business practices inflate advertising costs, causing advertising companies to pass the increase on to the end consumer through more expensive products on the shelves.

According to documents to which the newspaper had access, Google employees understood that some of the practices adopted meant a growth strategy that took place through the use of privileged information.

The complaint process against the global technology giant would have started in mid-December 2020, and highlights some of the US government’s arguments to defend its position that Google has a monopoly that has harmed the industry and competitors.

The company told The Wall Street Journal that it plans to file a lawsuit next week to close the lawsuit. Still according to the company, the process would be full of inaccuracies and lacks legal merit.

Google plays a key role in the way ads are marketed on the internet, as one of the main players in establishing the parameters to be adopted in sales.

The complaint of competitors, highlights the WSJ, is that the way the company operates ends up creating a hostile environment for new entrants to be able to develop their business in the market fairly.