Judge dismisses claims Facebook, Google had secret digital advertising pact

Date:
Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:14:40 +0000

Description:
Meta is in the clear, but Google is still alleged to have a monopoly on ad servers.

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A federal judge in the US has cleared Facebook and Google of collusion in relation to an online marketing deal between the two companies, while
allowing the ongoing antitrust case against the latter to continue.

As reported by The Verge , Judge P. Kevin Castel claimed the Jedi Blue deal broke no laws because of Facebooks motivation to use its economic clout as an advertising to drive the hardest bargain it could, and that Google was motivated by the legitimate, pro-competitive desire to obtain as much
business as possible from Facebook.

The agreement involved Facebook avoiding header bidding, a practice that allows companies to run their own auctions for ad space, in return for higher placement in Googles own advertising listings.

But in simple terms, the pact was not considered collusion because both companies were seen to have acted in their own separate interests. Googles antitrust woes

Although both companies have been cleared of legal wrongdoing, the renewed spotlight on the Jedi Blue deal - first brought to light via another
antitrust lawsuit filed against Google by a number of US states in 2020 - has highlighted the control that a small number of large tech companies have over online content advertising .

In an online blog post , Google claimed that the dismissal of accusations of collusion around the Jedi Blue deal proved that this latest antitrust case, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is deeply flawed. It also claimed that much of the case has now been ruled in its favor.

However, the tech giant isnt in the clear just yet. Judge Castels ruling deferred Googles claim for dismissal - on the grounds that the states that filed the case waited too long to do so- until later in the proceedings. He also wrote that the states have plausibly alleged that a number of Googles practices within its operation of ad servers and ad exchanges are anti-competitive. READ MORE

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One of these practices was Googles secret operation of Project Bernanke , a program that generated hundreds of million dollars in revenue for Google over several years by using previous bid data from the companys ad exchanges to give itself an advantage over competitors, making it easier for Google to win bids at ad auctions.

Google is no stranger to antitrust lawsuits, either. The US Department of Justice filed an antitrust case against the company in 2020, and is
reportedly looking to file again after building the case over a number of years that Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. has monopolized the field of digital content marketing (via Bloomberg ).

In its first complaint, the DOJ wrote that American consumers are forced to accept Googles policies, privacy practices, and use of personal data; and new companies with innovative business models cannot emerge from Googles long shadow. Here's our list of the best email marketing tools right now



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/judge-dismisses-claims-facebook-google-had-secr et-digital-advertising-pact/


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