Ongoing antitrust evidence reveals Google's strategy to 'crush' its competition in ads

During the ongoing antitrust trial against Google, evidence presented by prosecutors revealed details about a former executive stating that the company's goal with its advertising platform was to "crush" others in the same sector.

The statements were made by David Rosenblatt, who was Google's former president of display advertising. According to notes shown in court, Rosenblatt said, "We'll be able to crush the other networks and that's our goal," while talking about the company's strategy in late 2008 or early 2009. Rosenblatt discussed the advantages of owning technology on both sides of the advertising market, comparing Google's position with that of both NYSE and Goldman Sachs.

Rosenblatt said, "Google has created what's comparable to the NYSE or London Stock Exchange; in other words, we'll do to display (ads) what Google did to search." He further added that by owning the publishing ad servers itself, Google's advertiser ad network would potentially have the "first look" at the spots available for ad placement and that it would be a "nightmare" for ad publishers to switch platforms.

The remark is part of the narrative laid by the U.S. Department of Justice in which prosecutors claim that Google has used exclusionary practices to maintain an illegal monopoly in the advertising market, which violates sections 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. The lawsuit was filed in 2023, and the trial started on September 9. The lawsuit aims to force Google to sell off significant portions of its adtech business while also requiring the company to refrain from certain business practices.

Google denies all the claims and argues that it competes vigorously with other digital advertising firms like Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. Google also claims that the default search engine contracts make the user experience more seamless, which is why users want Google as the default and that the DOJ is improperly calculating its market share in advertising.

This antitrust case is different from the one DOJ filed in 2020 that accused Google of an illegal monopoly in the search engine market, whose verdict was ruled against Google. As part of its decision, Judge Amit P. Mehta wrote, "Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly."

Via Reuters