Arizona Will Be Among 8 Leaders In Google Antitrust Investigation

ARIZONA – State Attorney General Mark Brnovich says Arizona will be one of eight states leading a Google antitrust investigation that will drill down on the internet giant’s advertising practices. The investigation was officially announced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Monday, and has the backing of 48 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, according to news reports.

The only two states that haven't joined the investigation are California and Alabama. Meanwhile, Google reps have said they will cooperate fully with the investigation.

The investigation centers on Google’s online advertising control and whether it harms other businesses and consumers.

“We are concerned that Google’s sustained dominance in the market has been achieved not simply on the merits of its products, but also through business practices designed to thwart and eliminate competition,” Brnovich said in a statement. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported a second-quarter 2019 revenue of $32.7 billion, which meant a $3.2 billion profit for the quarter.

In his statement, Brnovich also mentioned Google’s past violations, including the European Commission’s antitrust actions and U.S. advertisements for illegal drugs. But those investigations didn’t completely focus on Google’s alleged “serial and repeated business practices designed to protect and maintain industry dominance,” Brnovich continued, according to an account by The Arizona Republic.

Specific accusations against Google include that its web search service promotes Google products to the disadvantage of competitors. Google's advertising practices have also come under scrutiny in regard to alleged anti-competitive behavior, Reuters reported. Another issue that could be included in the investigation is the tech giant’s practice of collecting large amounts of consumers’ personal data, The Arizona Republic reported.

“We look forward to showing how we are investing in innovation, providing services that people want, and engaging in robust and fair competition,” Google Senior Vice President Kent Walker said in a statement.

The stakes are high for Google, which was asked by the AGs to produce documents on its advertising business Monday, as the antitrust action could harm the company’s central business model. Depending on investigation findings, Google could face several more billions of dollars in fines, as in the Europe antitrust actions, or be forced to sell its YouTube subsidiary or other units.

The official announcement of the Google antitrust probe Monday follows confirmation by the Department of Justice in late August that several state attorneys general wanted to participate in joint actions to investigate tech firms.

Earlier, in July, eight state AGs, including those in Arizona, New York, Texas and Louisiana, met with U.S. Attorney General William Barr to talk about Big Tech antitrust issues. And also in July, the DOJ announced a separate Big Tech broad antitrust review, CNBC reported. In fact, Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, Inc. are all being investigated by the DOJ and the FTC for possible antitrust violations. Before that, in June, the Federal Trade Commission had received a letter asking that it factor in a wide range of variables in consumer harm determinations. That letter was signed by 39 state attorneys general in addition to AGs from Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia and Guam.

And the cacophony of Big Tech investigations just keeps coming. It was additionally announced Friday that a separate New York-led state attorneys general group will investigate Facebook Inc. too, which has come under scrutiny for permitting “fake news” posts and misleading posts. The social media platform has also been criticized for being “slow to clamp down on hate speech.” Facebook Inc. recently shelled out $5 billion to settle a suit centering on the company’s sharing 87 million users’ information with Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting firm now out of business, Reuters reported.