Texas leads coalition of states targeting Google in antitrust probe
Some of the biggest players in an industry that has fueled Austin’s economic boom — the high-tech sector — are in the crosshairs of regulators, with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a bipartisan coalition of most of his national counterparts firing the latest salvo Monday against internet search giant Google.
Paxton, flanked by attorneys general from around the country outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, announced an investigation into potentially anti-competitive practices in Google’s advertising business, saying the investigation will start there but could branch out into data privacy and other areas because “the facts will lead where they lead.”
Attorneys general from 48 states and Washington, D.C., as well as U.S. territory Puerto Rico, have signed on to take part in the Google investigation, Paxton said. California and Alabama are the only holdouts.
Google and fellow tech heavyweights Amazon, Apple and Facebook all have been under increased scrutiny from regulators, both in the U.S. and globally, based on concerns about the reach they have into everyday lives of consumers and their potential to unfairly undermine smaller technology companies and stamp out competition.
Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190909/texas-leads-coalition-of-states-targeting-google-in-antitrust-probe