Google Under FTC Scrutiny for Potential Antitrust Violations

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The Federal Trade Commission will be serving Google civil subpoenas within a week’s time, and will start an inquiry regarding Google activities, with the intent to look into potential antitrust violations.

When you’re the biggest kid on the block, you’re bound to get the attention of the authorities. The FTC is starting formal inquiry into Google’s activities, particularly whether it has been abusing its market dominance in search and web services. FTC Commissioners will also be seeking information from other companies. They want to know whether Google has been dealing with competitors unfairly, such as by tweaking its search algorithm to bury competitors or to channel users into its own web services in lieu of others.

At this point, though, the investigation does not mean that Google has done anything wrong or illegal. The inquiry intends to find evidence, and the FTC will decide by then. Google has actually been under FTC scrutiny before, but that related to acquisitions rather than Google’s overall activities. At its current rate, the investigation is likely to take at least a year. Google is, however, facing inquiries from the European Commission on the same grounds.