Jedi Blue
Returns
UK and EU
competition authorities launch dual probes into Meta and Google
The UK Competition
and Markets Authority (CMA) and the European Commission have opened twin
investigations into an online advertising arrangement that was revealed in a
pending US antitrust investigation.
On 11 March the
CMA and the Commission announced their investigations into the agreement
referred to in Google’s internal documents as “Jedi Blue”.
The investigations
concern ‘header bidding’ which is a type of advertising auction allowing
publishers to bid on multiple ad exchanges at the same time. The investigations will consider whether a September
2018 agreement about Meta’s use of Google’s advertising auction was an attempt
to curtail expansion of header bidding.
The two
agencies will work together during their own investigations. It is not known whether Meta and Google have
agreed to waive confidentiality restrictions to allow the two agencies to share
documents.
The European
Commission’s investigation is under both Article 101 and 102 TFEU which is
comparatively rare in its Big Tech probes.
The CMA is investigating
under the UK equivalent of Article 101 (Chapter I of the UK Competition Act
1998) although it has a wider investigation into whether Google has abused its
dominant position in header bidding more generally.
The agreement
first came to light as a result of investigations by US state attorneys
general, lead by Texas and who are taking action against Google under US
antitrust law.
The case
highlights the reality that in antitrust probes into Big Tech, the borderless
internet presents challenges for global enforcement. However, complainants and investigated
companies should be alert to the fact that documents provided to one authority
may well spark probes in another jurisdiction.
Sources:
EU
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_1703
UK
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-investigates-google-and-meta-over-ad-tech-concerns
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