Expand / Signage Before a building in the Google campus in Mountain View, California, on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. (charge: David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images)
Over three dozen state attorneys general a week filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google, accusing the technology behemoth of a ton of anticompetitive behaviours. One of those behaviours, a new report uncovers, is a explicit arrangement from Google to operate with Facebook not just to split the internet advertising market, but in addition to fend off antitrust investigations.
Facebook and Google agreed in a contract to”collaborate and help each other in reacting to some Antitrust Action” and”immediately and completely inform the Other Party of any Governmental Communication Related to this Arrangement,” based on a unredacted draft copy of this litigation acquired from The Wall Street Journal.
The last variant of the lawsuit made public (PDF) alleged that Google and Facebook signed a key agreement in 2018 which”fixes costs and allocates markets involving Google and Facebook as rival bidders in the stocks to publishers’ Web screen and in-app advertising stock.”
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