Regulatory authorities in Texas are conducting an antitrust review of Google’s search and advertising practices – the first of its kind against the search giant in the US.
Although Google’s business deals come under regular scrutiny by federal regulators, this is the first time state authorities have begun to look more broadly at Google’s core search and online advertising business.
The current review focuses on the fairness of Google’s search results. According to an official blog post, Google said that it had been asked for information about UK price comparison site Foundem and US-based business directory SourceTool and myTriggers, a site which collects e-commerce links. The three companies have accused Google of reducing their traffic by lowering their positions in its search rankings.
Google’s deputy general council, Don Harrison responded in a blog post by saying that the company’s first goal was to “provide the most useful, relevant search results and ads for users.” Mr Harrison continued by saying it was unsurprising that less relevant sites were unhappy with their ranking.
This latest investigation is not the only legal challenge Google has had to face recently. The company recently announced that it had settled a class action lawsuit over privacy flaws in its social media foray Buzz with a payout of $8.5 million.
Meanwhile, a German court ruled on Friday that YouTube could be held responsible for copyright-infringing content posted by users and must pay compensation. A spokesman for Google Germany said that YouTube would appeal the ruling.
