Google may ‘stonewall’ antitrust probes, state AGs are warned

Bloomberg

Republican Senator Josh Hawley warned state attorneys general (AG) expected to announce an antitrust probe of Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday that they should expect formidable defensive tactics, no matter how cooperative the company has promised to be.
“They will probably stall, stonewall, deflect, deny, threaten,” Hawley, a Missouri freshman who investigated the company when serving as his state’s attorney general, told Bloomberg in an interview.
The tech antagonist said he believes more than 40 states will ultimately be joining the probe, including his successor in Missouri, Eric Schmitt.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has said he’ll announce a multistate probe into anti-competitive behaviour by large tech companies, and Bloomberg reported that the investigation is targeting Google.
“I’m really, really pleased by this news that so many states are going to stand together and essentially join Missouri in its efforts, now two years old, to investigate Google,” Hawley said.
Besides the coming states’ probe of Google, the company disclosed a Justice Department investigation, and New York announced it’s leading a multistate probe of Facebook Inc as the technology giants face intensifying scrutiny and the possibility of vast fines and even break-up demands.
Antitrust investigations can be long, sprawling probes that can drag on for years.
Hawley said that, during his investigation, Google’s opening gambit was to claim that Missouri’s consumer protection statute didn’t apply to the company because it doesn’t sell anything and consumers don’t pay for the service. (Hawley’s probe spanned both consumer protection and antitrust issues.)
Google’s search, email, map and other consumer-facing services are free, but the company uses the vast troves of information it obtains from users to sell advertising all over the world. Alphabet Inc took in almost $137 billion in revenue last year.
Next Google delayed handing over documents, Hawley said.
“When they finally did start producing documents, then predictably they took the other approach and produced, I think it’s safe to say, millions of pages of documents, many of which we thought were dated,” he said.