It House, Sept. 19 (Xinhua)-- as the US Department of Justice v. Google's antitrust trial enters its second week, the Justice Department is focusing on the real moneymaking tool behind Google search: advertising.

Prosecutors allege that Google's monopoly allows it to raise advertising prices at will without worrying about the consequences of competition. The charge was supported in court by Jerry Dishler, executive vice president of Google Advertising. Mr Dishler said Google would adjust its auction process, which could lead to an average increase of 5 per cent in advertising prices in the past and 10 per cent for some queries. Customers who buy ads are not aware of these price adjustments. "We tend not to tell advertisers about price changes," Dishler said. "

Raising advertising prices is clearly a way for Google to increase search revenue in bad times, one of which appears to have taken place in the spring of 2019, according to an email between Dishler and another Google executive, Anil Sabahawal. The email also mentions other ways to increase revenue, including making search services more accessible to Chrome users.

Another trial exhibit shows that Google earned $98 billion from search advertising on its own service in 2019, which is more than $100 billion (currently about 729 billion yuan) in 2020, Mr. Dishler said, with the vast majority of growth coming from mobile search. Mr Dishler said in court that about 10 per cent was the upper limit for price increases, and that an increase of 15 per cent was "a dangerous thing". Nevertheless, Mr Dishler admitted that even if high prices led some advertisers to turn to competitors such as Meta or TikTok, overall revenue could still increase.

Proving that Google can raise advertising prices with little competitive pressure could help support the Justice Department's argument that Google maintains an illegal monopoly.

The trial is expected to last until November and the verdict will not be available until next year.

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