Google investigation: US states launch major probe accusing tech giant of unfair practices

Prosecutors from almost 50 US states have launched an anti-trust investigation into Google – accusing the tech giant of unfair practices.

Attorneys general from 48 states, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, announced they were starting their work looking into Google’s highly profitable search engine and display advertising business.

Speaking to reporters in front of the Supreme Court in Washington DC with a dozen other prosecutors, Texas attorney general Bill Paxton insisted the probe would follow the evidence.

“Facts will lead where the facts will lead,” he said, according to Politico.

His counterpart from Washington DC, Karl Racine, who is a Democrat, said prosecutors from across the political spectrum were “acting as one” despite their differences on other issues such as immigration and health care.

The probe into Google comes as big technology companies are coming under unprecedented scrutiny for the huge impact they have on so many aspects of life, and the vast sums they earn as they eat up small competitors.

A separate investigation was launched last week into Facebook.

What has been noticeable is that the concern among elected officials, as well as activists and campaigners, spreads across the political divide.

On Monday, the prosecutors formally requested documents from Google on its advertising business. They said they could expand their work to look into other issues such as data privacy.

Utah attorney general Sean Reyes said the probe was “for the benefit of the tech ecosystem to help level the playing field”.

Google specifically has faced accusations that its web search service leads consumers to its own products at the cost of competitors. There have also been complaints of potentially anti-competitive behaviour in how it runs the advertising side of its business.

Google said in a statement on Friday that it would work constructively with them. It had no further comment on Monday. Its shares were down 0.6 per cent in late trading.

Senator Josh Hawley, who as Missouri attorney general opened a Google probe in 2017, lauded the announcement on Monday as “a very big day for the folks who care about antitrust enforcement”.

“I hope that Congress will get serious about acting. And I hope the United States Senate will lead the way there,” he said.

He tweeted: “It’s going to be a very bad day for Google.”

Facebook, which is also under the spotlight, has faced criticism for being slow to clamp down on hate speech, and it recently paid a $5 billion settlement for sharing 87 million users’ data with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The consultancy’s clients included Mr Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

On the federal level, the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission are probing Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon, also for potential violations of antitrust law.

Additional reporting by Reuters