The survey marks the latest regulatory challenges facing Google and other Silicon Valley technology companies.
Editor’s note: This article is from “Tencent Technology”, review: Golden Deer.
According to foreign media reports, local prosecutors from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico officially announced a joint antitrust investigation against Google on Monday, which opened a broad review of the technology giant. These Democrats and Republicans have said that Google may threaten competition, consumer rights and the continued growth of the Internet.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appeared in front of the Supreme Court, accusing Google of “leading all aspects of Internet advertising and Internet search,” but warned that despite his Criticism, but states have only initiated investigations, not lawsuits.
Paxton said the initial focus of the survey was online advertising. According to market research firm eMarketer, Google’s digital advertising revenue in the US is expected to exceed $48 billion this year, far ahead of its peers and account for 75% of total US search advertising spending.
He told the Attorney General from 11 states and the District of Columbia at a press conference: “Google dominates buyers, sellers, auctioneers, and video parties through YouTube.”
Some of the Attorneys seem to have complained more about Google, from the way the company handles and ranks search results, to the extent that it may not adequately protect users’ personal information. Their early accusations increased Google’s bet and threatened a top-down censorship of its vast business, not just advertising. Paxton promises that the investigation will take place regardless of the facts.
Utah Republican Attorney General Sean Reyes said: “In a fair situation, there is nothing wrong with becoming a dominant player,” he said in such an investigation. There is a “presumption of innocence,” but he still says that complaints about Google’s business practices are “universal.”
The Republican Attorney General from Louisiana, Jeff Landry, added: “We are here because our virtual market is absolutely threatening.”
Google declined to comment and reiterated its previous statement, working with government officials.
This survey marks the latest regulatory challenges facing Google and other Silicon Valley technology companies, and they are facing increasing criticism and review by state and federal governments, including whether they become too large and powerful, weakening competition. Opponents and lead to more expensive or poorer services for network users.
As early as six years ago, federal regulators conducted anti-monopoly investigations on Google search and advertising behavior and chose not to impose major penalties on the company, including splitting companies. At the same time, regulators around the world are more skeptical about Google: in the past three years, the EU has issued $9 billion to Google for fines related to anti-competitive behavior.
The joint investigation was led by Texas Attorney General Paxton and seven other Attorney Generals, with a total of four Democrats and four Republicans. So far, in addition to Alabama and Silicon Valley, California, the Attorneys General of other states have signed a bipartisan cooperation agreement, as has Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A spokesperson for the California Attorney General did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
Paxton said state officials have issued official legal requirements to the tech giant to request documents related to online advertising investigations.
Australian Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody said the state’s investigation of Google began with the company’s huge data store. “Google monitors our online behavior and captures the data of each of us as we browse the Internet,” she said. “This survey will initially focus on what Google has captured and whether Google is embedding itself at every level of the online marketplace. Selling advertising, which in turn monopolizes the industry.”
Leslie Rutledge, the Republican Attorney General from Arkansas, described Google as an “online search engine giant,” sparking her concern about searching for businesses, including hospitals. The way it will be influenced by the way the technology giant’s algorithms and advertising systems work. She said: “I want to get the best advice from the best doctors, not to find the doctors and clinics that spend the most on advertising.”
The US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are also reviewing large technology companies, and the US Department of Justice has also become interested in Google. According to a securities filing file submitted by Google last Friday, the agency issued the first legal record submission request to Google at the end of August.
Another group of 11 state attorneys, led by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, has begun investigating Facebook to investigate whether it violates competition law and Consumers’ personal information is not handled properly.
Some of the state attorneys said that as these investigations unfold, they are working closely with federal counterparts. But Karl Racine, the Washington DC’s Democratic Attorney General and Facebook and Google survey participant, said that if Washington chooses not to take action against the tech giants, he and his peers will not hesitate to move on.
Rassin said: “The State Attorney General is a group of independent people who can investigate. So I am very confident.Heart, this bipartisan group will be led by facts and will not be dominated by any conclusions. (Tencent Technology Review / Jinlu)