Google judge questions company’s testimony as ad defense begins

A senior Google executive has sought to fend off a US Justice Department antitrust case over its display advertising technology business, testifying that it faces “fierce competition” from companies such as Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc . and Meta Platforms Inc.

But the federal judge overseeing the Virginia trial called the testimony “highly questionable” and potentially “flawed,” given that Google officials knew about antitrust concerns about the ad tools since the U.S. opened its investigation in 2019.

The Department of Justice, which charged the Alphabet Inc. that it monopolizes online ad technology tools, rested its case Friday after two weeks of testimony. That allowed Google to begin presenting its defense, calling Scott Sheffer, vice president of partnerships, as the company’s first witness.

Sheffer, an 18-year Google veteran, went through the company’s various products and pointed to dozens of online rivals that offer “fierce competition” for the business.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who will decide whether Google violated the law, chastised the company’s lawyers for presenting testimony she deemed irrelevant.

“This doesn’t get to the core issues in this case,” she said, questioning Sheffer’s views on ad tech competition because the company has been privy to antitrust investigations for more than four years. A group of state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit over the alleged monopoly in 2020, and the Justice Department filed its own case last year.

Sheffer said Google recently lost some customers to Microsoft Corp., which acquired AT&T Inc.’s ad technology business. in 2022. Also that year, Netflix Inc. switched from Google to Microsoft’s advertising tools in part, he said, because the Windows maker offered a “fairly large” financial guarantee.

Sheffer also detailed Google’s recent partnerships with X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and Roku Inc., but Brinkema ruled that the company could not provide evidence because it did not disclose the information to the government earlier this year. case. .

Google is expected to continue its defense next week, after which the Justice Department will have an opportunity to call witnesses before the trial ends.

The government said Google is manipulating the $677 billion display advertising market by violating antitrust laws, creating a “trifecta of monopolies” to block the technology behind ads on the site and harming publishers and advertisers – claims Google denied.

Photo: Photographer: Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg

TOPICS
Legislation