SENATOR WARNS GOOGLE POSES ‘TREMENDOUS THREAT TO FREE, FAIR PRESS’
Antitrust probe heats up as Big Tech silences dissident voices
As part of an escalating probe into anti-competitive and antitrust practices by Google, Reuters reports that DOJ officials and some state attorneys general are set to meet on Friday to discuss next steps.
The federal government and nearly all state attorneys general have opened investigations into allegations that the company which once upon a time said its motto was “don’t be evil” has broken antitrust laws.
The federal probe focuses on search bias, advertising and management of Google’s Android operating system, according to the report.
Separately, in a letter sent Sunday to U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn on Tuesday said that Google and parent company, Alphabet, pose a “threat to a free and fair press in America.”
Addressing the Attorney General, Blackburn urges him “to thoroughly scrutinize how the company’s anticompetitive practices could lead to the crippling of journalistic freedom. I also ask that your probe examine abuses in both the online advertising and online search markets, and to take enforcement action swiftly before further economic harm results.”