Suit says the bosses of Google, Facebook made illegal transactions to dominate the advertising market
The antitrust lawsuit is one of three that have drawn Google’s involvement on different fronts.
San Francisco:
Top bosses of Google and Facebook were directly involved in approving an allegedly illegal 2018 deal to cement their dominance in the online advertising market, court documents US court revealed on Friday.
The filings, part of a lawsuit against a coalition of US states against Google, make serious allegations against the tech giant’s long-held monopoly.
According to the states, the online search giant sought to eliminate competition by manipulating ad auctions – a highly sophisticated system that determines which ads appear on websites. based on anonymous profiles of internet users.
Legal documents filed in a New York court apparently refer to Sundar Pichai, the head of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, as well as Facebook chief executive Sheryl Sandberg and CEO Mark Zuckerberg – even when their names were cut back.
“Google CEO Sundar Pichai personally signed off on the terms of the agreement,” the lawsuit says.
The documents note that the economic terms were emailed to the Facebook CEO and he was told: “‘We’re almost ready to sign and need your approval to proceed. .”
Google did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but has firmly denied manipulating the digital advertising market.
This is the third time the lawsuit has been amended and does not list Facebook or its parent company Meta as defendants.
“Meta’s non-exclusive bidding agreements with Google, and similar agreements we have with other bidding platforms, have increased competition for ad placements,” a statement said. respondent to the AFP investigation.
“These business relationships allow Meta to deliver more value to advertisers while fairly compensating publishers, leading to better outcomes for everyone.”
According to the filing, Google internally calls the deal “Jedi Blue,” a color that refers to Facebook’s logo.
“No reasonable developer would choose to have its auctions rigged by the market’s two largest buyers,” the lawsuit said.
“So Google and Facebook swore themselves to secrecy about the terms of their agreement.”
The antitrust lawsuit is one of three that have drawn Google’s involvement on different fronts.
The US government filed a blockbuster lawsuit last October, accusing Google of maintaining an “illegal monopoly” in online search and advertising.
The country’s largest antitrust lawsuit in decades, it opens the door to the potential disintegration of the Silicon Valley giant.
While Google’s ad revenue continues to grow, the booming U.S. online ad market share is easing pressure from competitors like Facebook, Amazon and others, according to eMarketer.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
