U.S. probe said to target Google

Justice Department reportedly preparing antitrust inquiry

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department is readying an investigation of Google’s business practices and whether they violate antitrust law, according to news reports.

The move, which was reported by three people familiar with the matter, marks a new chapter in the tech giant’s troubles with regulators around the world who contend the company is too large and threatens rivals and consumers.

Google was fined a record $2.72 billion by European regulators in 2017 for abusing its dominance of the online search market. In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission — the government’s other antitrust agency — opened an investigation of Google but closed it in 2013 without taking action.

The exact focus of the Justice Department’s investigation is unclear. The department began work on the matter after brokering an agreement with the FTC to take the lead on antitrust oversight of Google, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations are confidential.

The probe could threaten Google with a harsh examination of its sprawling digital empire, which includes its dominant position in search and advertising, its Android mobile operating system and newer gambits such as self-driving cars and drones. Its expansive, data-hungry footprint increasingly has drawn the attention of Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, who say that Google — and some of its peers in Silicon Valley — have become too large and should potentially be broken up.

Justice Department spokesman Jeremy Edwards declined to comment Saturday, citing the department’s policy against confirming or denying investigations. The FTC did not respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment.

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

President Donald Trump’s administration has previously studied Silicon Valley. The Justice Department convened state attorneys general last year to explore the competition concerns posed by Google and other big tech companies. Some of those state attorneys general expressed their own interest in banding together and opening an antitrust investigation of Google at the time.

In Google’s earlier tangle with antitrust regulators, FTC officials sought to determine whether the company’s search algorithms — and its practice of devoting better screen real estate to its services over those of rivals — threatened competitors. The FTC also investigated Google’s advertising practices, as well as the means by which the company licensed to its rivals some of the critical patents involving mobile phones.

But the FTC, under President Barack Obama, opted against forcing Google to alter broad aspects of its business and against pursuing a breakup of Google. The company made changes voluntarily when the FTC shut down its investigation, including letting advertisers use information from their Google ad campaigns to create campaigns with rivals.

In contrast, Google has faced greater antitrust scrutiny abroad. The European Union has been a leading force in actions against the tech giant, and regulators there have imposed roughly $9 billion in fines against the company in the past three years. Those rulings include findings of violations of competition rules in the way Google presents search results.

EU rulings also faulted the company for how it licenses its Android smartphone operating system to device makers. EU officials also have threatened additional investigations and potential penalties, spurred on by allegations from some of Google’s competitors, such as the reviews site Yelp.