British and European competition regulators have opened an investigation into whether a deal between Google and Meta disadvantaged digital publishers in online display advertising.
The Competition and Markets Authority and the European Commission have started investigations into a 2018 agreement, codenamed Jedi Blue, which enables Meta via its Meta Audience Network, to participate in Google’s Open Bidding programme.
The investigations are focused on whether the agreement restricted or prevented the uptake of “header bidding services”, which allow sellers, such as news publishers, to offer their online advertising space to several buyers at the same time, rather than receiving offers one by one.
Andrea Coscelli, the CMA’s chief executive, said it was concerned that Google may have teamed up with Meta to put obstacles in the
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