Six weeks after serving Google with broad subpoenas, Federal Trade Commission lawyers and several state attorneys general are focusing their investigation of Google, reports The Wall Street Journal. For one thing, they have been asking whether Google prevents smartphone manufacturers that use its Android operating system from using competitors’ services.
They also want to know if Google grants preferential placement on its search results to its own products. And they’re looking into allegations that Google unfairly takes information collected by rivals, such as reviews of local businesses, to use on its own site and then demotes the rivals’ services in its search results.
The European Commission has been carrying out its own broad antitrust probe of Google since last year.
Although the FTC’s probe is still at an early stage and may not result in the FTC filing a lawsuit, Google has already made some changes. For instance, late last month the company said it had removed from Google Places snippets of reviews that originated on other sites.
Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
