States Prepare to File Own Antitrust Cases Against Google
October 20 2020 - 12:36PM
Dow Jones News
By John D. McKinnon
WASHINGTON -- More antitrust cases are likely to be filed
against Alphabet Inc.'s Google soon by state attorneys general,
even though partisan-tinged wrangling has clouded the path
forward.
At least two separate though overlapping groups of attorneys
general are investigating the company concurrently. One effort, led
by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, focuses on
online advertising and could lead to a lawsuit being filed within
weeks, according to people familiar with the situation.
That probe has been under way for more than a year, with
attorneys general from 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam
and Puerto Rico initially joining in a bipartisan effort in
cooperation with the Justice Department.
But in recent weeks fissures have emerged involving some of the
Democratic and Republican attorneys general, the people said. Much
of the disagreement has centered on whether to join in the Justice
Department suit against Google filed Tuesday.
That divide was highlighted when attorneys general from 11
states signed on to the Justice Department lawsuit, all of them
Republicans. In addition to Texas, the states that joined were
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and South Carolina.
Some Democrats have argued to their colleagues that the Justice
Department's focus has been too narrow in its investigation of the
online-search business, the people said, and wanted it to include a
broader range of issues.
Some Republicans have questioned the sincerity of that claim,
suggesting that Democrats may be stalling because they don't want
to support a Republican-led effort ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
That argument appeared to be undercut somewhat by the number of
Republican attorneys general who didn't sign on either.
Further complicating the issue, senior officials in Mr. Paxton's
office recently complained to law enforcement authorities about
their boss in an unrelated case, saying they had found evidence of
wrongdoing related to a campaign donor.
Mr. Paxton has defended his actions and vowed not to resign,
making it uncertain if the issue will affect the Google
investigation.
States have their own antitrust laws and can seek their own
legal remedies for violations. For example, states often are better
positioned to seek monetary damages than the federal government is,
legal experts say.
Google declined to comment. In a recent blog post on competition
issues, the company emphasized that its products help people as
well as other businesses.
"Our products increase choice and expand competition," it said.
"They level the playing field for small businesses everywhere --
enabling them to sell their products, find customers, reduce their
costs and, in difficult times, get back on their feet."
A second, less-publicized Google probe includes a bipartisan
group of attorneys general that includes New York, Colorado, Iowa,
Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Utah.
That group released a statement on Tuesday saying its probe is
expected to conclude "in the coming weeks."
"If we decide to file a complaint, we would file a motion to
consolidate our case with the DOJ's," the statement said. "We would
then litigate the consolidated case cooperatively, much as we did
in the Microsoft case," it said, referring to the government
antitrust action against the software company two decades ago that
was brought jointly by the Justice Department and a number of
states.
The statement praised the "strong bipartisan cooperation among
the states and the good working relationship with the DOJ on these
serious issues."
One former Democratic state attorney general said recently that
the split in the internet-search coalition between Democratic
attorneys general and their Republican counterparts appears to be
consistent with recent partisan divisions.
"Right now the climate is that the Democratic AGs are extremely
reluctant to sign onto anything that [U.S. Attorney General
William] Barr's DOJ would be bringing and are always going to be
looking with skepticism on what Barr is doing," the former official
said.
Representatives of several Democratic attorneys general in the
coalition didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 20, 2020 12:21 ET (16:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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