US: AGs meet in Colorado to discuss Google antitrust probe

State officials investigating Alphabet’s Google met Monday, November 11, to dive into competition issues surrounding the search giant as they press forward with an investigation into whether the company is violating antitrust laws, Reuters reported.

The officials met privately in Denver with outside experts with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of Google’s businesses and the dynamics of the markets it operates in, including digital advertising.

The gathering comes two months after all but two states opened an antitrust investigation into Google with an initial focus on its advertising. Perhaps about a dozen states sent representatives to the meeting, Reuters reported. 

The gathering was similar to one held in New York in October, where state and federal enforcers from the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission discussed their probe of Facebook. 

The probe of Google, a unit of Alphabet, is being led by the Texas attorney general’s office.  Google had no comment about the meeting in Colorado, but pointed to a blog post from September in which an executive, Kent Walker, said that the company has “always worked constructively with regulators and will continue to do so.” 

Texas sent the search and advertising giant a subpoena on September 9 asking for information about its online digital advertising business, which generates most of Google’s revenue and where Google is a dominant player.

Full Content: Reuters

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