50 state attorneys general have launched a formal probe into whether Google has engaged in anticompetitive practices in its ads business

[steven36]

• Fifty state attorneys general have banded together to launch an investigation into whether Google has stifled competitors in a way that harms users.
• The investigation, announced on Monday from the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, is being led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
• "This investigation is not a lawsuit. It is an investigation to determine the facts," Paxton said. "Right now we're looking at advertising, but the facts will lead to where the facts lead."
• The group comprises attorneys general from 48 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico; California and Alabama are not part of the investigation.

 

 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton

 

Fifty state attorneys general have banded together to launch an investigation into whether Google has stifled competitors in a way that harms users.

 

The probe, announced on Monday from the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, is being led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and will first focus on the company's advertising business.

 

"This is a company that dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet, as they dominate the buyer side, the seller side, the auction side, and even the video side with YouTube," Paxton said of Google on Monday.

 

"This investigation is not a lawsuit. It is an investigation to determine the facts. Right now we're looking at advertising, but the facts will lead to where the facts lead."

 

The group comprises attorneys general from 48 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. Notably, Alabama and California — where Google's headquarters is — are the only states that have not thrown their support behind the investigation.

 

Paxton said that the attorneys general had already requested information from Google and that while the investigation would begin by looking into Google's advertising business, the group would consider examining other facets of the company "if there are other facts that demonstrate that we need to go in another direction."

 

In 2019, Google is on pace to own over 31% of the worldwide digital-advertising market, according to eMarketer estimates.

 

Karl Racine, the attorney general for the District of Columbia, said it was too early in the investigation to speculate about penalties should Google be found to be in violation of the law.

 

Politicians including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, have called on Google to "unwind" by divesting itself of major acquisitions like its Waze map service, its Nest smart-home hardware company, and its DoubleClick advertising platform.

 

The announcement from the state attorneys general followed reports on Friday that the Department of Justice had begun its own antitrust investigation into Google. The search giant said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released last week that the DOJ had requested information about its previous antitrust probes in the US and abroad.

 

A Google representative declined to comment for this story and instead pointed to last week's blog post from Kent Walker, its senior vice president of global affairs, acknowledging that the DOJ had requested information from Google and that the company expected similar questions from state attorneys general.

 

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal also confirmed that state AGs led by Letitia James of New York were planning a separate investigation into Facebook to evaluate its grip on competitors and whether it mishandled user data. Facebook acknowledged in July that it was under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission over antitrust concerns.

 

Google faced a federal antitrust investigation in 2013 by the FTC regarding its search and smartphone business practices. Google walked away without incurring any financial penalties, committing itself only to vague promises to change some of its business practices.

 

European regulators, on the other hand, have taken a sharper stance with Google, fining the tech giant roughly $10 billion in recent years for various anticompetitive practices involving its advertising, search, and mobile businesses.

 

Source

[frankl1n]

4 hours ago, steven36 said:

is being led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and will first focus on the company's advertising business.

I dont presume to know exactly what a state attorney generals main job is but it seems to me that he would have bigger and more important problems to be concerned about, especially for Texas. Lets see: illegal aliens, drug cartels, water shortage, gulf pollution, big oil, etc etc....I love the yanks but they sure need to get better kinds of people to make decisions and effect change. Not that my country is any better at doing these things.

[steven36]

1 hour ago, frankl1n said:

I dont presume to know exactly what a state attorney generals main job is but it seems to me that he would have bigger and more important problems to be concerned about, especially for Texas. Lets see: illegal aliens, drug cartels, water shortage, gulf pollution, big oil, etc etc....I love the yanks but they sure need to get better kinds of people to make decisions and effect change. Not that my country is any better at doing these things.

Stuff like your talking about States have a limited budget and that stuff is handled  more at a federal  level EPA , U.S Border Patrol  , Homeland Security , FBI, CIA and the NSA they don't have the authority to go into Mexico to get cartels. Texas is just one state  with a cartel problem it's a 50 state problem if the state of Texas could keep  them out they will just come in from other states and they do.  And they travel all over the place.

 

State attorney generals most of the time never defend the state  in Federal cases because they swore and oath to uphold the United States' constitution and laws as well as the state's. there like  the DOJ  of each sate.   They stepped in against big tech  because the DOJ at a federal level are just slapping Big Tech on the wrist . So they add heat to the federal probes and with there findings they will the give the DOJ  headway to serve more harsh punishments  down the road . They had  some success  with doing this to Microsoft before but in the end the DOJ settled  with M$ .

 

I guess you  watched TV  before and seen were they have a DA  witch is a lawyer witch trials crimes for each city there a prosecutor for the city ? State attorney generals are lawyers / prosecutors for the state . the DOJ  are lawyers / prosecutors for the the whole USA  there part of the  Federal goverment.

[Infinite_Vision]

2 hours ago, frankl1n said:

I dont presume to know exactly what a state attorney generals main job is but it seems to me that he would have bigger and more important problems to be concerned about, especially for Texas. Lets see: illegal aliens, drug cartels, water shortage, gulf pollution, big oil, etc etc....I love the yanks but they sure need to get better kinds of people to make decisions and effect change. Not that my country is any better at doing these things.

I think Steven36 did a good job of explaining it.  At the moment, all 50 AG are going after Goog.

 

The problem with illegal aliens is up to the legislative branch and court.  Until they can pass something in the legislative branch (Congress), the AG office will be sue by proponent of said illegal aliens.  They will pick a circuit court that have been installed by let say a particular party.  It gets very dicey especially when you have special interest money coming into local government from out of state.  Hint.  Campaign donation.  That is why a wall is needed to keep the drug cartels out especially in the Arizona area.  The wall is one aspect as well as electronic serv. and border security personnel.  Again, I'm not saying anything political cuz I'm just giving you my analysis. 

 

Water shortage?  Deslination plants, conservation, and shortage of rainwater underground.  Gulf Pollution is a work in progress.  Big oil for what?  They are drilling in the gulf to keep American independent from Opec.  For a long time, the USA was held hostage by OPEC by having to import oil from these nations.  Being energy independent is good for national security and keep prices down to help consumers save on money so they can buy other goods and services.