The European Commission has decided to close its antitrust investigation into an allegedly anticompetitive agreement between Google and Meta for online display advertising services (the so-called “Jedi Blue” agreement).
On 11 March 2022, the Commission opened an investigation to assess whether Google and Meta agreed to weaken and exclude a competing technology to Google’s Open Bidding from the market for displaying ads on publisher websites and apps, in breach of EU antitrust rules.
Following a careful assessment of all relevant evidence, including information received from Google, Meta and other companies active in the tech sector, the Commission concluded that the evidence did not confirm its initial concerns and has therefore decided to close its investigation.
The Commission will continue to monitor business practices in the European tech sector. A separate investigation into Google’s possible abuse of dominance in the ad tech sector is still ongoing.
More information on the investigation will be available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number AT. 40774.