FTC Said to Expand Antitrust Probe to Add Google+ Service

The Federal Trade Commission is expanding its antitrust probe of Google to include scrutiny of its new Google+ social networking service, according to two people familiar with the situation. The competition issues raised by Google+ go to the heart of the FTC’s investigation into whether the company is giving preference to its own services in search results and whether that practice violates antitrust laws, said the people, who declined to be identified because the probe isn’t public.

Google this week introduced changes to its search engine so that results feature photos, news and comments from Google+, naming the new function “Search, Plus Your World.” Users who opt for Google+ see personal information about their friends included from the social networking service when they enter a query. The changes sparked a backlash from bloggers, privacy groups and competitors who said the inclusion of Google+ results unfairly promotes the company’s products over other information on the Web.