Google willing to share digital ad data with publishers to address monopoly, executive testifies

Google is willing to cough up more advertising data to publishers to address concerns about its illegal monopoly over digital advertising technology, a top executive at the search giant said Tuesday.

Glenn Berntson, an engineering director for Google Ad Manager, acknowledged the potential remedy during the second week of a high-stakes antitrust trial in Virginia federal court. He was called as a witness by Google’s defense lawyers.

Providing “publishers with these detailed insights, I think, is a good idea,” Berntson said during cross-examination by the Justice Department’s attorneys, according to Bloomberg . “The specifics is something we’d have to explore.” 3

Google is trying to wriggle out of a more damaging forced breakup of its digital advertising empire. The DOJ has argued