The European Union are looking into a pact between Facebook's parent company Meta and search engine giant Google, as it may breach the bloc's rules on fair competition.

The pact concerns Meta's "Audience Network" and Google's "Open Bidding" program, with the EU's competition watchdog opening the investigation back in 2018.

According to the European Commission, the deal may impact negatively on publishers and consumers as it has the potential to exclude ad tech services that compete with Google's Open Bidding program.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said on Friday "If confirmed by our investigation, this would restrict and distort competition in the already concentrated ad tech market, to the detriment of rival ad serving technologies, publishers and ultimately consumers."

The UK have launched their own investigation into the two tech giants and the EU will look to keep a close eye on proceedings, with the commission stating the Union "intends to closely cooperate on this investigation following the applicable rules and procedures."

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