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Google allegedly faces a new California antitrust investigation
California recently opened its own antitrust investigation into Google, Politico says, which will mean that the web engine currently faces antitrust probes from every state in the US except one. What part of California's attorney general is reviewing is not clear, but recent criticism has centered on its investments, and its domination and actions in the ad tech and search industries.
The probe will just be Google's new antitrust investigation. An antitrust probe into Google's advertisement and search sectors was announced last September by attorneys general of 50 states and territories. California and Alabama were the other two states who didn't take part in the investigation at the moment. Non-participation in California was especially noteworthy, as the state houses Google's headquarters in Mountain View. The latest news can leave Alabama as the only state that doesn't prosecute the company. The California probe is apparently independent from last year's confirmed inquiry.
Around the same time, the Justice Department 's wide antitrust analysis revealed in Big Tech last summer has recently centered on Google, and it is suspected that the department is dealing closely with the state-level probe. Google revealed its role in the probe by the Justice Department last September, when it said that the federal agency had been requested to provide details. According to Politico, a complaint from the Department of Justice may come as early as next month, but it's not clear whether the multi-state probe will proceed independently at that point.
Scrutiny has also come from congress, where Google CEO Sundar Pichai is scheduled to testify in the inquiry of the House Judiciary Antitrust subcommittee later this month. Amazon, Apple and Facebook executives have also agreed to testify as part of the investigation.
Amazon, Twitter and Facebook have all been asked by the FTC to turn facts of their acquisitions and mergers.
Both Google and a California Attorney General 's representative refused to comment on the article to Politico. It is our procedure to protect the reputation of our job by not intervening on any ongoing or future investigation, whether acknowledging or denying their presence, a spokeswoman for the attorney general.
In addition to housing Google's headquarters, California's monopoly inquiry is notable as the state has a vast workforce devoted to bribery and market prosecutions, Politico reports, and the monopoly statutes in the Cartwright Act and Unfair Competition Act have been applied more widely than prior federal antitrust legislation.
