States to Launch Google, Facebook Antitrust Probes

State attorneys general are formally launching separate antitrust probes into Facebook and Alphabet’s Google unit starting the week of Sept 9, putting added pressure on tech giants already under federal scrutiny. New York Attorney General Letitia James said that her office was organizing a bipartisan, multi-state probe into social media company Facebook. “We will use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook’s actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, or increased the price of advertising,” she said. Joining in the Facebook investigation so far are the attorneys general of CO, FL, IA, NE, NC, OH, TN, and DC, she said. The wide-ranging investigation focuses on Facebook’s “dominance in the industry and the potential anticompetitive conduct stemming from that dominance,” her office said. Separately, the Google probe is expected to be announced at a news conference outside the US Supreme Court on Sept 9, with a bipartisan group of about three dozen state attorneys general joining the effort. The investigation will be led by TX Attorney General Ken Paxton. The attorneys general will examine the impact of Google on digital advertising markets, apparently, as well as potential harms to consumers from their information and ad choices being concentrated in one company.