The image is by Alex Castro.
On Friday, a coalition of state attorneys general led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a new antitrust complaint against Google, giving more details into the company's alleged collusion with Facebook in programmatic ad markets. The filing was reported by a publication.
The initial complaint was filed in November and alleged that the two companies colluded to limit bidding practices.
This is a big deal.
Friday's complaint shows that the Jedi Blue deal was reviewed at the highest levels of both companies, with personal involvement from Sundar Pichai, Sheryl Sandberg, and Mark Zuckerberg. In one email, Sandberg told the CEO that his is a big deal. The filing refers to both of them by their job titles, but redacts their names.
The legal implications of the allegations are still being debated, and the distinction between normal business practices and anti-competitive behavior will be debated in court. The state attorneys general were able to dig up a number of moments where the two ad giants seem to be collaborating.
The complaint quotes an email from 2015, in which employees of the search engine company expressed fear that their exchange might have to compete with other exchanges in the future.
The case rests on the concessions that were made to Facebook in the wake of the Jedi Blue arrangement. The concession claims give Facebook a clear advantage in winning auctions.
One study found that Facebook won more often in auctions run by the search engine than they did on any other platform. The average price that Facebook paid per in-app impression was lower than it was on any other platform. If Facebook faced the same competition for inventory across auction houses, this would be a puzzling result.
There are a number of antitrust actions against Google, including parallel antitrust cases focusing on search manipulation and its management of the Play Store. The most important complaint for the company is the one led by Texas, which focuses on the programmatic ad networks that have long provided the bulk of the company's revenue.
The complaint was described as "full of inaccuracies and lacks legal merit" in a statement by the company.
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