By John D. McKinnon, Ryan Tracy and Brent Kendall
WASHINGTON -- State attorneys general will meet with U.S.
Justice Department attorneys next week to share information on
their respective probes of Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit, a step that
could eventually lead to both groups joining forces, according to
people familiar with the matter.
The meeting is seen as the start of a periodic dialogue that
could expand into more formal cooperation as the probes continue,
the people said.
To date, federal and state authorities involved in the probe
haven't shared investigative materials about their concurrent
probes of Google, some of the people said.
At least seven state attorneys general who are part of the
investigation have been invited to the meeting, one of the people
said. The group -- comprising the executive committee of the
states' investigation into Google -- is led by Ken Paxton, the
Texas attorney general.
The DOJ declined to comment. The attorneys general either
declined to comment or didn't respond.
The state and federal investigations have given considerable
focus to Google's powerful position in the lucrative market for
online advertising. The company's dominant position in online
search and possible anticompetitive behavior by Google in its
Android mobile operating system have also drawn scrutiny, according
to the people familiar with the matter.
The planned meeting is likely to include discussions on those
issues, the scope of the probes and the best division of labor as
the investigations move forward, some of the people said.
Google didn't respond to requests for comment. After the state
attorneys general launched their probe last year, Google senior
vice president for global affairs Kent Walker said the company
would cooperate and looks forward "to showing how we are investing
in innovation, providing services that people want, and engaging in
robust and fair competition."
Google is among a handful of giant technology companies that
have come under a government spotlight amid rising concerns that
they are using their dominance to stifle competition.
In addition to probes by the states and Justice Department, the
Federal Trade Commission is examining certain practices at Facebook
Inc., including whether it acquired potential rivals such as
Instagram and WhatsApp to head off competition. The House Judiciary
Committee is looking at Facebook, Google, Apple Inc. and Amazon.com
Inc. for possible anticompetitive practices.
The companies have all said they are cooperating with the
investigations.
State antitrust enforcers often team up with their federal
counterparts, including when the Justice Department and a group of
21 attorneys general worked together when they sued Microsoft Corp.
in the late 1990s.
This time around, most state attorneys general have officially
joined in the state-level investigation into possible
anticompetitive practices by Google.
The size of the coalition reflects "the importance of these
issues to Americans across the country, regardless of location or
political persuasion," U.S. Attorney General William Barr said last
month in a speech to the National Association of Attorneys General
in Washington.
Mr. Barr hinted that a broad approach might be best.
"Many online platforms are not only big, but also offer a wide
breadth of products and services," he said. "Antitrust enforcers
therefore must take an equally broad view of these platforms'
offerings, and the relationships between different markets,
products and business practices."
Both the DOJ and the states have been beefing up their legal
teams. Some state attorneys general have said publicly they need
close cooperation with the DOJ in order to take on Google
successfully.
Despite the broad bipartisan support for the Google
investigation among the attorneys general, there are still
political tensions beneath the surface of the government probes
into big tech.
Democratic attorneys general have clashed repeatedly with the
Trump administration and have gone to court to challenge dozens of
its decisions. Those partisan divisions have crept into antitrust
matters, too, especially on the proposed merger of wireless
carriers T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. Though the Justice
Department has greenlighted the deal, a group of 13 Democratic-led
states and the District of Columbia are suing to stop it.
Coordination broke down in that case to the point that the
states didn't give the Justice Department advance notice before
filing a lawsuit to block the merger in June, The Wall Street
Journal reported at the time. The split created hard feelings on
both sides, according to people familiar with the matter.
It is possible partisan divisions could re-emerge in the Google
investigation. When it comes to large technology companies, some
Democrats are privately skeptical that a Republican-led
administration will take what Democrats view as sufficient action
to curb perceived abuses of market power.
Fueling that sentiment is the outcome of two recent federal
investigations of Facebook and Google's YouTube. Officials on the
Federal Trade Commission split along party lines about whether
settlements with the firms were tough enough, with Republicans
casting the settlements as historic victories and Democrats calling
them weak.
--Drew FitzGerald contributed to this article.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com, Ryan Tracy
at ryan.tracy@wsj.com and Brent Kendall at
brent.kendall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 26, 2020 10:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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