State Officials Open to Joint Probes of Big Tech Companies
September 25 2018 - 6:33PM
Dow Jones News
By John D. McKinnon and Cameron McWhirter
WASHINGTON -- State officials expressed concerns about
technology giants' market dominance and user-privacy practices at a
meeting Tuesday hosted by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, with
some indicating they would be open to pursuing joint investigations
of companies such as Google and Facebook Inc.
One attendee, Republican Attorney General Doug Peterson of
Nebraska, said officials would look at the possibility of a formal
multistate investigation of major tech platforms, focusing on both
consumer-protection issues such as privacy and potential antitrust
concerns.
"There's certainly enough interest expressed by the attorneys
general who were there today, and I think [we] will continue to
move forward," Mr. Peterson said in an interview.
Google and Facebook declined to comment.
Tech giants have faced growing calls for oversight amid
bipartisan worries about the companies' size and influence. Any
moves by the states would open another regulatory battlefront.
In the meeting, much of the focus from officials was on the
massive amounts of personal data tech companies collect from their
users, and the adequacy and transparency of their terms of use.
Some officials also wanted to take a closer look at the market
power of firms such as Facebook and Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc.
A third issue, potential political bias by major platforms, got
relatively little attention in the meeting, participants said.
The Justice Department said the discussion focused on consumer
protection and data privacy issues, and that many of the
participants "shared the view that it is essential for federal and
state law enforcement authorities to work together to ensure that
these challenges are addressed responsibly and effectively."
The Justice Department said it would review the information
shared by the state attorneys general and "expects this dialogue
will continue in the near future," although no future federal-state
meetings were announced. In all, nine states' attorneys general
attended the meeting in person or by phone, along with
representatives of five other states.
State participants stopped short of saying a joint federal-state
investigation would commence, but several state attorneys general
said the issues deserve more attention.
"There are growing concerns that the [tech] sector is moving in
spaces that most people couldn't have thought of or imagined,"
particularly in use of personal data, Xavier Becerra, California's
Democratic attorney general, said in a meeting with reporters
afterward. "I walked out of that meeting believing there's reason
to continue the conversation."
Karl Racine, the Democratic attorney general of the District of
Columbia, said the officials likely will focus on data concerns
"with an increasing degree of interest." He also predicted that the
dialogue represents "the early stages of antitrust
consideration."
Mr. Racine has previously supported a reopening of a closed
antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into
Google.
Attorneys general aren't the only ones concerned about
strengthening online consumer protections. On Tuesday, the Trump
administration released a framework for improving data-privacy
practices of the tech giants. It called for more transparency in
how firms collect and use data, and more control for users over
their personal information.
On Wednesday, lawmakers on Capitol Hill will hold a high-profile
hearing to examine privacy practices among big companies including
Google and Twitter Inc., as well as telecommunications companies
such as AT&T Inc.
Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai has agreed to meet with top
GOP lawmakers on Friday, responding to new scrutiny of the
company's work with China, its market power and alleged bias
against conservative voices in its search results.
Tuesday's meeting of attorneys general had been expected to also
focus on the political-bias allegations, which have been a concern
among some Republican officials, including state attorneys general
as well as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.).
President Trump also has recently accused Google of skewing online
search results to highlight negative news stories about him.
The tech platforms deny allowing any political bias to affect
their news, search or other functions.
Attendees said the bias issue got less attention than expected,
however.
Mr. Sessions "was really the only one who was talking about
political speech," said Brian Frosh, the Democratic attorney
general of Maryland.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com and Cameron
McWhirter at cameron.mcwhirter@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 25, 2018 18:18 ET (22:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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