State Attorneys General Are Google's Next Headache

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said he is investigating whether Google violated Missouri’s consumer-protection and antitrust laws. In one respect, Hawley’s investigation is “one AG in one state,” says Bradley Tusk, a political fixer for Silicon Valley companies. But, he says, the bigger concern for Google is that “the worm has turned” in public perception of the search giant. The same officials who used to scramble to get Google to bring its Fiber high-speed internet service to their jurisdictions may now look good by going after Google. Google needs to find a way to deal with increased political pressure on all sides, says Tusk. “I don’t think it comes from hiring more and more lobbyists,” no matter what Google’s legislative-affairs team suggests. “It can help you tamp down on it, but fundamentally the problem isn’t your relationship [with Washington], it’s your image.”