Google’s ‘Star Wars’ Facebook Pact Is Latest Antitrust Target

  • Deal, signed at highest level, manipulated ad auctions: suit
  • Facebook backed off competing with Google, Texas AG alleges
Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg
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It reads like a grand conspiracy of the nerds.

At the center of the latest antitrust lawsuit against Google is a bold claim: The company colluded with arch rival Facebook Inc. in an illegal deal to manipulate auctions for online advertising, an industry the two dominate. Google named the secret pact after a Star Wars character.