The top owners of Google and Facebook were straight Involved In approving a 2018 deal allegedly illegal to cement its dominance in the online advertising market, US court documents revealed Friday.
record, part of an antitrust court case Serious allegations against Big Tech giants long accused of having a monopoly, by a coalition of US states targeting Google.
According to the states allegationsIn , the online search colossus sought to out-compete the competition by manipulating ad auctions – the ultra-sophisticated system that determines which ads appear on web pages based on anonymous profiles of Internet users.
Legal documents filed in a New York court clearly mention Sundar Pichai, the head of Google’s parent firm Alphabet, as well as Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg – even though their names have been edited again.
“Google CEO Sundar Pichai also personally signed the terms of the deal,” the suit said.
The document notes that the economic terms were emailed to Facebook’s CEO and he was advised: “‘We are almost ready to sign and need your approval to proceed.'”
It was the third time the suit was amended, and did not list Facebook or its parent company Meta as a defendant.
“Meta’s non-exclusive bidding agreement with Google and our similar agreements with other bidding platforms have helped increase competition for ad placements,” a spokesperson said in response to the AFP investigation.
“These business relationships enable Meta to deliver more value to advertisers while giving publishers fair compensation, resulting in better outcomes for everyone.”
Google, which denies manipulating the digital advertising market, referred to AFP a 2021 blog post in which it vowed to defend itself in court against a lawsuit it called “misleading” and “credible grounds”. Said without.
A company spokesperson further denied that Pichai personally signed any such deal.
According to the filing, Google referred to the agreement internally as “Jedi Blue,” the color a reference to Facebook’s logo.
“No rational developer would want their auctions to be rigged by the two biggest buyers in the market,” the suit said.
“So, Google and Facebook took an oath of secrecy regarding the terms of their agreement.”
The antitrust suit is one of three engaging Google on various fronts.
The US government filed its Blockbuster lawsuit last October, accusing Google of maintaining an “illegal monopoly” in online search and advertising.
The nation’s biggest antitrust case in decades, it opens the door to a possible breakdown of the Silicon Valley titan.
While Google advertising revenue continues to grow, its share of the rapidly growing US online advertising market is declining under pressure from competitors such as Facebook, Amazon and others, according to eMarketer.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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