California reportedly opened its own antitrust investigation on Google, Political reports, which would mean that the search giant is now facing antitrust probes from every state in the United States. It is unknown what aspect of the company the California attorney general is investigating, but recent scrutiny has focused on its acquisitions and its dominance and conduct in the ad technology market and search markets.
The investigation would be just the latest antitrust investigation Google is facing. Last September, attorneys general in 50 states and territories announced an antitrust investigation into Google’s advertising and search businesses. At the time, California and Alabama were the only two states that did not participate in the investigation. California’s non-participation was particularly notable, as the state houses the headquarters of Google Mountain View. This latest news may leave Alabama as the only state that is not investigating the company. The California investigation will reportedly be separate from the investigation announced last year.
Simultaneously, the extensive Justice Department antitrust review it announced last summer at Big Tech has focused on Google, and the department is believed to be working closely with the statewide investigation. Google confirmed its involvement in the Justice Department investigation last September, when it said it had been asked to provide information to the federal agency. A Justice Department lawsuit could come as soon as next month, according to Political, but it is not known whether the multistate investigation will continue separately after that point.
The scrutiny also came from the congress, where Google CEO Sundar Pichai is expected to testify later this month as part of the investigation by the House of Representatives judiciary antitrust subcommittee. CEOs of Amazon, Apple and Facebook also agreed to testify as part of the investigation.
The FTC has also asked Amazon, Google, and Facebook to provide evidence of their acquisitions and mergers.
Both Google and a spokesman for the California Attorney General declined to comment. Political in his report “To protect the integrity of our work, it is our practice not to comment on any pending or potential investigations, even to confirm or deny their existence,” said a spokesman for the attorney general. Gizmodo.
In addition to hosting Google headquarters, an antitrust investigation conducted by California is important because the state has large staff dedicated to antitrust and competition investigations, Political he points out, and his Cartwright Act and Unfair Competition Law antitrust laws have been interpreted more broadly than federal antitrust law in the past.
