Attorneys General Launch Probe of Google
September 09 2019 - 3:34PM
Dow Jones News
By Brent Kendall
WASHINGTON -- A bipartisan group of 50 U.S. attorneys general
representing almost every state and two territories officially
kicked off an antitrust investigation of Alphabet Inc.'s Google on
Monday, saying the search giant's dominance raised troubling
concerns.
About a dozen attorneys general, led by Texas Attorney General
Ken Paxton, a Republican, announced the probe in front of the
Supreme Court building.
Mr. Paxton said the states for now would focus on Google's
practices in the online advertising market. "But the facts will
lead where the facts lead," he said.
The states for months had been making plans for the
investigation, which were previously reported by The Wall Street
Journal.
The investigation is the latest challenge for Big Tech, which is
under fire from both federal and state antitrust enforcers as well
as from Congress, over concern about whether a handful of giant
companies have outsize power and are using it to illegally stifle
competition and harm consumers.
The Justice Department is separately scrutinizing Google for
possible anticompetitive practices, and more broadly it is
examining the actions of a handful of dominant online platforms,
including those operated by Facebook Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The
Federal Trade Commission is conducting related enforcement
activities.
Write to Brent Kendall at brent.kendall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 09, 2019 15:19 ET (19:19 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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