Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Google took a page out of a familiar playbook in court this week, defending itself from claims of anticompetitive conduct by raising security concerns. While the government argues it locked up the ad tech market to make more money, Google’s witnesses say that a more closed ecosystem is often safer for users echoing a defense both it and Apple have made of their mobile app stores.
Google’s attorneys have spent the last few days mounting its defense against the Department of Justice. The company argues that conduct the Department of Justice paints as anticompetitive like locking customers into its services and exerting control over the rules of the industry through its dominance actually has justifiable business purposes. The point was emphasized by two Google executive witnesses: Per Bjorke, director of product management for ad traffic quality, and Alejandro Borgia, director of product management for ad safety. Combined, theteams work to ensure Google’s ads are bought and sold by trustworthy parties and that they’re seen by real people, not bots.
Bjorke, whose team focuses on publishers, described Google’s extensive work to combat click fraud by shady websites. Each day, 15,000 to 20,000 publishers attempt to sign up to use Google’s tools, Bjorke said. Each one needs to be vetted with a multistep verification process, including mailing a physical letter to make it harder for fraudsters to use fake addresses. On the advertiser side, millions of signups are blocked each year based on signals of malicious intent, Borgia said.Bjorke and Borgia both said their teamsdon’t have revenue goals, and Google views the protection as a service that’s part of working with its products. It’s all meant to make sure bad actors don’t get into Google’s advertising ecosystem and spoil it for everyone, Bjorke said.
