Newly unredacted documents from a state-
led antitrust lawsuit against Google accuse the
search giant of colluding with rival Facebook to
manipulate online advertising sales. The CEOs
of both companies were aware of the deal and
signed off on it, the lawsuit alleges.
The original, redacted lawsuit, filed in December
2021, accused Google of “anti-competitive
conduct” and of teaming up with the social
networking giant. But the unredacted version
offers details on the involvement of Alphabet
CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg in approving the deal. Facebook has
since renamed itself Meta.
According to the lawsuit, Facebook’s chief
operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, was “explicit
that ‘this is a big deal strategically’” in a 2018
email thread about the deal that included
Facebook’s CEO. While the names of the
Facebook executives are still redacted in the suit,
their titles are visible.
When the two sides hammered out the terms
of the agreement, “the team sent an email
addressed directly to CEO” Zuckerberg, the
lawsuit states.
“We’re nearly ready to sign and need your
approval to move forward,” the email read,
according to the complaint. Zuckerberg wanted
to meet with Sandberg and his other executives
before making a decision, the complaint states.
In a statement, Google spokesperson Peter
Schottenfels said the lawsuit is “full of
inaccuracies and lacks legal merit.”
In September 2018, the complaint says, the two
companies signed the agreement. Sandberg,