EU, UK Launches Antitrust Investigations On Google, Meta

EU and U.K. antitrust regulators launched parallel investigations into Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL unit Google and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc FB over a 2018 ad deal, CNBC reports.
The European Commission and the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority investigated whether the pact between the two tech giants dubbed “Jedi Blue” squeezed competitors out of the market for ads on publisher websites and apps, Bloomberg reports.
Meta’s non-exclusive bidding agreement with Google and the similar contracts with other bidding platforms have helped increase competition for ad placements, Meta admitted.
“The allegations made about this agreement are false. This is a publicly documented, procompetitive agreement that enables Facebook Audience Network (FAN) to participate in our Open Bidding program, along with dozens of other companies,” Google said, Reuters reports.
A Texas lawsuit alleged that Google gave Meta special terms and access to its ad server for allocating advertising space in return for its abandoning a rival advertising technology, the Wall Street Journal reports. Both Google and Meta disputed the allegations.
Price Action: FB shares traded lowehigher by 0.92% at $197 in the premarket on the last check Friday.