SAN FRANSISCO, United States — Top bosses of
Google and Facebook were directly involved in approving an allegedly illegal
2018 deal to cement their dominance of the online advertising market, US court
documents revealed Friday.
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The records, part of an anti-trust lawsuit by a
coalition of
US states targeting Google, make serious allegations against Big
Tech giants long accused of holding monopolies.
According to the states’ accusations, the online
search colossus sought to oust competition by manipulating ad auctions — the
ultra-sophisticated system that determines which ads appear on web pages based
on the anonymized profiles of internet users.
The legal documents filed in a New York court clearly
refer to Sundar Pichai, chief of Google’s parent firm Alphabet, as well as
Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg and CEO
Mark Zuckerberg — even if their
names were redacted.
“Google CEO
Sundar Pichai also personally signed off
on the terms of the deal,” the suit said.
The documents note that the economic terms were
emailed to Facebook’s CEO and he was advised: “’We’re nearly ready to sign and
need your approval to move forward.’”
It was the third time the suit was amended, and did
not list Facebook or its parent company Meta as defendants.
“Meta’s non-exclusive bidding agreement with Google
and the similar agreements we have with other bidding platforms, have helped to
increase competition for ad placements,” a spokesperson said in reply to an AFP
inquiry.
“These business relationships enable Meta to deliver
more value to advertisers while fairly compensating publishers, resulting in
better outcomes for all.”
Google, which has adamantly denied manipulating the
digital ad market, referred AFP to a 2021 blog post in which it vowed to defend
itself in court against a suit it said was “misleading” and without “credible
basis.”
A company spokesperson further denied that Pichai
had personally signed off on any such deal.
Google referred to the agreement internally as “Jedi
Blue,” the color being a reference to Facebook’s logo, according to the filing.
“No rational developer would choose to have its
auctions rigged by the market’s two largest buyers,” the suit said.
“So, Google and Facebook swore themselves to secrecy
about the terms of their agreement.”
The antitrust suit is one of three engaging Google
on different fronts.
The US government filed its blockbuster lawsuit in
October of last year, accusing Google of maintaining an “illegal monopoly” in
online search and advertising.
The country’s biggest antitrust case in decades, it
opens the door to a potential breakup of the Silicon Valley titan.
While Google ad revenue has continued to grow, its share of
the booming US online ad market is ebbing under pressure from competitors such
as Facebook, Amazon and others, according to eMarketer.
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