The reputed WSJ has made an astonishing report on Google’s secret Project Bernanke. The project reportedly boosted Google’s ad system over any other. It did so by bidding on the data gathered from advertisers via the company’s ad exchange. The name was visible in a document from Google that was unredacted inadvertently. It was part of the antitrust lawsuit filed in Texas.
Details On Project Bernanke
Google has since been allowed to refile the document in question under a seal from the federal judge. However, WSJ reports that outside advertisers had no idea about Project Bernanke. As such, the project was potentially one of Google’s most lucrative, earning the company a hundred million dollars and more in profits.
A lawsuit questioning the trust was filed by Texas against Google back in December. The lawsuit included allegations such as Project Bernanke and other anti-competitive tactics that the search engine giant was employing. A big part of the lawsuit was concerning this specific project.
In the inadvertently unredacted filing, Google wrote that the data generated through the project is no different than the type of data that alternative buying tools maintain. However, WSJ reports that historical data regarding bids made via Google Ads was accessible by the company. Furthermore, Google was also able to modify bids made by clients as well as boost clients’ possibility for winning ad impression auctions.
As such, other tools for ads were at a clear disadvantage. Texas presented a citation from one of the company’s internal presentations in which Google estimated annual earnings of $230 million through Project Bernanke.
The reasoning behind the name “Bernanke” is however unclear as of now. Ben Bernanke was the Federal Reserve’s chair between 2006 and 2014. He is possibly the most notable Bernanke known to the public. However, Google representatives have clarified that the lawsuit contains misrepresentations which they are looking forward to clearing up.
