The lawsuit filed by the US states claims that Google and Facebook reached a deal to have the social network help in an effort to ‘kill’ the publishers’ competing plan, reports the NYT
Court documents claim that executives at Google and Facebook personally oversaw a 2018 deal that gave advantages to Facebook on Google’s ad auctions.
According to an amended antitrust complaint filed by Texas and 15 other states in the US, Chief executives at both Alphabet Inc’s Google and Facebook were aware of a deal that allegedly gave the social network an advantage in the search giant’s online advertising auctions.
An unredacted version of the suit came to light on Friday which said the agreement with Facebook, which Google called ‘Jedi Blue,’ was ‘signed off’ by Google CEO Sundar Pichai while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg allegedly on an email thread discussing it, according to the amended complaint.
Ultimately, Google and Facebook struck a deal executed at the highest levels, the complaint said. Following the agreement, Facebook curtailed its involvement with header bidding in return for Google giving Facebook information, speed, and other advantages.
The lawsuit filed by the states claims that Google and Facebook reached a deal to have the social network help in an effort to ‘kill’ the publishers’ competing plan, reports the New York Times.
The latest details about the agreement, which were reported Friday by The Wall Street Journal and Politico, come in on unredacted version of the multistate antitrust lawsuit. Some parts of the ad deal had previously been reported by the Journal.
According to the Politico report: Among other new details, the new filing alleges that Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, helped negotiate the agreement and urged Zuckerberg’s approval, calling it ‘a big deal strategically.’ The complaint says the team that negotiated the deal sent Zuckerberg an email telling him, ‘We’re nearly ready to sign and need your approval to move forward.’
In response to the continuing lawsuit, Google said the complaint ‘isn’t accurate,’ and ‘full of inaccuracies.
We intend to file a motion to dismiss next week, a Google spokesperson said.
Meta-owned Facebook, which is not a defendant in the suit released a statement saying that it was not a deal exclusive and that other agreements have increased competition for ad placements and that it was better for advertisers ‘while fairly compensating publishers.’