The European Commission and the United Kingdom have announced that they are investigating Google and Meta (Facebook) for a possible pact in advertising. US companies reportedly signed an agreement to undermine a competitor’s ad system in favor of the system Google Open Bidding.
The investigations on Jedi Blue (which is the name of the pact) are being carried out in parallel by the EU’s competition division and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). However, the first lawsuit (still ongoing) was brought by the US state of Texas, which accused Google of giving preference to Facebook ads and giving them the best positions. While Facebook supported its ad system and does not create competing ad technologies.
The EU is worried
Although the United States is already processing a lawsuit against the two companies, the European Union has not been able to avoid showing its concern regarding the issue. The Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestagein charge of competition policy, said: “Many publishers rely on online display advertising to fund online content for consumers. Through the so-called “Jedi Blue” agreement between Google and Meta, a competing technology to Google’s Open Bidding may have been attacked with the aim of weakening it and excluding it from the market for displaying ads on publisher websites and apps. If confirmed by our research, this would restrict and distort competition in the already concentrated ad tech market, to the detriment of rival ad serving techs, publishers and ultimately consumers.”
Margrethe Vestager, declared for the Financial Times what “We have not yet concluded if it is something of Google alone or if they were together. It is not a fact that Meta was aware of the effects of the business and that is what we have to investigate.”.
The Commission will now carry out its in-depth investigation as a matter of priority. And if proven, the investigated practices may breach EU competition rules on anti-competitive agreements between companies.
The UK Competition Market Authority (‘CMA’) has launched its own investigation into the deal between Google and Meta. As usual, the Commission has been in contact with the CMA and intends to cooperate closely in this investigation following the applicable rules and procedures.
«We are concerned that Google has partnered with Meta to put obstacles in the way of competitors who provide important online display advertising services to publishers.“, He said CEO of the CMA, Andrea Coscelli, it’s a statement. «If a company has a stranglehold on a certain area, it can make it difficult for new companies and smaller businesses to enter the market, and can ultimately reduce customer choice«.
