Google og Facebook har fått en rettssak på nakken i USA for ulovlig prissamarbeid om reklame. De hevdes at de inngikk en hemmelig avtale i 2018 som kan være et brudd på antitrustlovene.

The top executives at Google and Facebook are being accused of conspiring together by approving a secret deal that gave Facebook an advantage in online advertising auctions.

Attorneys for Texas and other states, according to court filings obtained by Fox News, say that the 2018 deal between tech giants potentially violated antitrust laws by giving Facebook unlawful advantages in Google’s advertising exchange.

Avtalen ble inngått mellom Facebooks Sheryl Sandberg og Google Sundar Pichai. Sandberg omtaler den som viktig strategisk.
I søksmålet heter det at de to techgigantene manipulerte annonsemarkedet.
«As internal Google documents reveal, Google sought to kill competition and has done so through an array of exclusionary tactics, including an unlawful agreement with Facebook, its largest potential competitive threat, to manipulate advertising auctions. The Supreme Court has warned that there are such things as antitrust evils. This litigation will establish that Google is guilty of such antitrust evils, and it seeks to ensure that Google won’t be evil anymore.»
Kundene har ikke kontroll på Googles algoritmer, og det heter i søksmålet at noen kunder måtte betale mer for annonseplass, mens de som hadde plassert annonser fikk reduserte inntekter.

Lawsuit claims Google and Facebook brokered secret deal to dominate ad market
Facebook’s COO allegedly called it a ‘big deal strategically’

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