An explosive lawsuit has revealed that Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai struck a secret deal in 2018 where they would carve up the digital advertising between the two empires.

Recently unredacted court filings show that the deal guaranteed Facebook a fixed percentage of advertising auctions they ‘bid’ on through Google. It is alleged that Google reached out to Facebook after realising they posed a competitive risk.

According to the lawsuit, COO Sheryl Sandberg massaged the deal, before handing it off to Zuckerberg.

“We’re nearly ready to sign and need your approval to move forward,” Sandberg wrote in an email to Zuckerberg.

“Facebook CEO [REDACTED] wanted to meet with COO [REDACTED] and his other executives before making a decision,” the complaint said.

“Google CEO Sundar Pichai also personally signed off on the terms of the deal.”

This information comes to light after a federal judge in New York ordered the original heavily redacted court documents be undone, with the information deemed to be in the public interest.

Other newly revealed information, includes claims that Google misled both publishers and advertisers as to how its advertising auctions worked, artificially inflating prices for some buyers, while reducing revenue for some advertisers – a practice that amounts to “insider information” according to Google employees quoted in the suit.

15 states, plus Puerto Rico are currently suing Google for antitrust violations.

Google spokesperson Peter Schottenfels told Politico they will seek a dismissal of the lawsuit.

“Despite Attorney General Paxton’s three attempts to re-write his complaint, it is still full of inaccuracies and lacks legal merit.

“Our advertising technologies help websites and apps fund their content, and enable small businesses to reach customers around the world.

“There is vigorous competition in online advertising, which has reduced ad tech fees, and expanded options for publishers and advertisers.”

Meta likewise rubbished the suit.

“Meta’s non-exclusive bidding agreement with Google and the similar agreements we have with other bidding platforms, have helped to increase competition for ad placements,” Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said.

“These business relationships enable Meta to deliver more value to advertisers while fairly compensating publishers, resulting in better outcomes for all.”