Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton recently said Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc., could face more lawsuits in the coming weeks or months. He said many states are testing the question of whether the company’s search operations violate antitrust laws.
In a Tuesday (Dec. 8) discussion with global competition officials, Pakstein said that law enforcement officials across the United States, whether federal or state, are now stepping up their scrutiny of the tech giants. The states leading the investigation into Google’s search practices include Colorado, Iowa and Nebraska, Bloomberg reported. Those states have told the Justice Department that they will seek to consolidate their cases.
FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, a Democrat, also spoke at Tuesday’s meeting as well. He said antitrust officials should reject Facebook’s argument that any enforcement action against large U.S. technology companies would only benefit China’s tech giants. He said Facebook and other U.S. tech companies are using the importance of this competitive position to get a “blank check” on the people, and “that’s a very dangerous argument.
Pakstein, along with the Justice Department and 10 other Republican state attorneys general, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in October of this year. His office is also investigating Google’s dominance of the online advertising market, which is also expected to lead to litigation.
Meanwhile, social media giant Facebook has been sued this Wednesday (Dec. 9). A total of 48 states and territories across the U.S., led by New York State, have joined forces to sue Facebook for violating antitrust laws.
New York State Attorney General Jen Lakha said Wednesday, “A few minutes ago, I led a bipartisan coalition of 48 attorneys general across the United States to file a lawsuit against social media giant Facebook… …to stand up for the millions of consumers and the many small businesses harmed by Facebook’s illegal practices.”
As determined by the New York State investigation, Facebook suppressed its rivals and stifled competition, eliminating it with acquisitions such as Instagram and the instant messaging software WhatsApp, at the expense of consumer interest and choice, and moreover stifling innovation and endangering the privacy of millions of Americans.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also filed the same antitrust lawsuit against Facebook after a lengthy investigation, seeking a permanent injunction from a federal court against Facebook, including divesting its assets including Instagram and WhatsApp, prohibiting Facebook from imposing anti-competitive conditions on software developers, and requiring Facebook to provide advance notice and receive approval for future M&A transactions, among other things.
Recent Comments