Last week, ten US states filed a new complaint against Google. The firm is being sued in a large-scale antitrust action. The censored version of the trial reported a coalition of Facebook and Google in the field of online advertising. The Wall Street Journal got his hands on the uncensored version of the trial and details the deal that would have been made between the two digital giants. The complaint, filed in the US District of Texas, alleges that Facebook has emerged as a new rival to Google in the field and that parent company Alphabet has therefore reached an agreement with Mark Zuckerberg’s firm to maintain its dominant position. Indeed, in 2018, Google and Facebook reportedly reached an agreement in which Mark Zuckerberg’s company agreed not to compete with Google’s online advertising tools, in exchange for special treatment when the firm uses them.
Google and Facebook allies in case of lawsuit
This agreement, baptized Jedi Blue, would thus mention a coalition of the two parties in the event of antitrust lawsuits. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the word “Antitrust” comes up several times in the uncensored trial report. It sets out some of the provisions of the contract and in particular the cooperation of the two entities. The companies will “cooperate and assist each other in responding to any antitrust action” and “will promptly and fully notify the other party of any government communications relating to this agreement. ” According to a Google spokesperson, this kind of deal is extremely common. He adds that“State claims are inaccurate. There is nothing exclusive about Facebook’s participation and they do not receive data that is not made available to other buyers in the same way ”. Facebook also formally denies these accusations. “Any claim that this is hurting competition or any suggestion of fault on Facebook’s part is baseless.” Google is also at the heart of another antitrust lawsuit in which 38 attorneys general denounce the firm’s anti-competitive behavior.