An alliance that comprises of attorney generals in the US states is investing new resources to launch an antitrust investigation on Google’s other businesses, focusing on Android and search businesses. Sources claims that in the past few months, US states have allocated resources for the investigation. In addition, there are new consultants in the negotiations. In addition, state officials are working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is conducting a federal antitrust investigation of Google.
There are reports that some top politicians are trying to frustrate the proceedings of the investigation. However, the general political direction seems to be in favor of investigators. This is an election year, thus the behavior of large tech companies providing political opinions will be subject to scrutiny.
Gizchina News of the week
Sources claim the states have appointed Utah and Iowa authorities to lead investigations into Android. Regarding the survey of Google’s search business, states are forming leadership bodies.
People familiar with the matter also believe that states are still trying to hire “Honey of Google” and former Mississippi General Inspector Jim Hood as a consultant. It is unclear whether Hood will receive payment for this job. While serving as Mississippi Attorney General, Hood sued Google twice, accusing the company of using illegal content and mishandling child data.
Hood’s past experience suggests that the current investigation may extend to consumer protection. Google’s critics argue that consumer protection could be part of the antitrust debate. If consumers have more choices, they can demand more protection.
Googles take on the antitrust investigation
A Google spokesperson said the company “has been working constructively with regulators” and “will continue to do so.” “Google services help people, create more choices, and support thousands of jobs and small businesses across the US,” Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president for global affairs, said in a blog post at the time. “
You literally said nothing of substance. What are the perceived injustices to spark the antitrust investigation?
I came here to see if the comment section would shed some light on this pointless article.
All these money hungry lawyers really piss me off. They’re only concerned about taking money from functional businesses that have a large revenue base; once more, they have an Americanized agenda that does not take into account cross-border technology initiatives that blur state and country borders.
In this article it seems like every politician from every state feels like there should be a Google equivalent representing their state. These fat cat politicians can’t identify a specific company or instance where a search engine start-up from their state wanted to make a presence online. It sounds like they don’t have a pot to piss in.
Vague Generalities, without proximity to a specific “cause of harm”, are not enough for any reasonable judge to hear the complaint. These corporate anti-trust hound dogs are no better than ambulance chasers.
Satoshi
Shut them down!