Missouri Attorney General Launches Probe Into Google’s Business Practices
Investigation includes whether Google unfairly favors its content in search results
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley on Monday said he issued an investigative subpoena to probe Google’s collection of user data, its use of other sites’ content, and its alleged manipulation of search results to favor its own services.
Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., GOOGL -0.97% has so far skirted the scrutiny in the U.S. that it has faced in Europe, where regulators levied a record $2.7 billion fine against Google in June for allegedly favoring its shopping ads in its search results. Mr. Hawley said his investigation was in part prompted by the European fine. “We’re concerned they’re engaged in a similar pattern of behavior in the United States,” he told reporters.
Google said in a statement: “We have not yet received the subpoena, however, we have strong privacy protections in place for our users and continue to operate in a highly competitive and dynamic environment.” It has disputed European regulators’ charges.
The Federal Trade Commission ended a nearly two-year antitrust investigation into Google in early 2013 after the company agreed to make some changes to its business practices for five years—a period that is about to expire. In the U.S., some federal lawmakers such as Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) have called for new probes into the company’s power. Congressional committees are also investigating how Russian agents allegedly used Google, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to try to influence last year’s election.
Mr. Hawley said the FTC went too easy on Google. “That seemed to me to be short even of a slap on the wrist. Now this is why I think there needs to be a fuller inquiry,” he said in an interview. “I don’t see a lot of action coming out of Washington. I don’t see a lot of action coming out of the FTC.…So I think that it’s important that some law enforcement agency actually steps forward.”
The FTC pointed to past comments from commissioners that stated its “exhaustive investigation” into Google found the company’s practices weren’t “on balance, demonstrably anticompetitive.”
Some critics and competitors of Google see state attorneys general as potentially the most likely route to regulatory action in the U.S.
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