WaPo | Missouri’s attorney general said Monday that he has launched an
investigation into whether Google has mishandled private customer data
and manipulated its search results to favor its own products, a further
sign that Silicon Valley’s political fortunes may be on the descent.
The
probe comes after European antitrust regulators levied a $2.7 billion
fine against Google in June and as Washington is taking a harder look
into the influence of dominant tech companies in American society.
Attorney
General Josh Hawley said that the investigation will focus on three
issues: the scope of Google's data collection, whether it has abused its
market position as a dominant search engine and whether the
company used its competitors content as its own in search results. The state has issued Google a subpoena seeking information about its business practices.
Hawley, who recently announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, said that the investigation was
prompted in part by the fine levied against Google by European
officials for favoring its own search results, as well as concerns that
Google was engaging in similar behavior in the United States. Hawley
said that a preliminary investigation suggests that Google may not be
accurately disclosing how much data it collects about customers and
that people don't have a meaningful choice to opt out of Google's
data collection.
