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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
As feds loom, states hit Facebook, Google with new probes
By MARCY GORDON
and MATT O’BRIEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Two
groups of states are target-
ing Facebook and Google
in separate antitrust probes,
widening the scrutiny of
Big Tech beyond sweeping
federal and congressional
investigations into their mar-
ket dominance.
Facebook and Google
are two of the world’s larg-
est and most ubiquitous tech
companies. The billions who
use their services for making
social media posts, upload-
ing videos or searching ads
are targeted by the tech com-
panies for their personal
data — a prized asset that
enhances the companies’
power. Regulators are exam-
ining whether the compa-
nies have used their market
power to crimp competition,
potentially raising prices and
hurting consumers.
Dissatisfaction with what
federal authorities have
done so far may be pushing
some states to band together
to run their own investiga-
tions, possibly eyeing more
aggressive sanctions. The
Federal Trade Commission’s
recent $5 billion fi ne against
Facebook over privacy vio-
lations, for example, was
criticized by consumer advo-
cates and a number of public
offi cials as being too lenient.
“The states see it as part
of their role to fi ll a vac-
uum,” said Jay Himes, an
antitrust lawyer in New
York. Himes, a former head
of the antitrust bureau in the
New York attorney general’s
offi ce, worked on the states’
antitrust case against Micro-
soft about 20 years ago.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo
Google’s headquarters in California.
Noah Berger/AP Photo
A conference worker passes a demo booth at Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference in
California in 2017.
New York Attorney Gen-
eral Letitia James, a Demo-
crat, said Friday her probe
will look into Facebook’s
dominance and any resulting
anticompetitive conduct.
A separate group of state
attorneys general is announc-
ing Monday in Washington
the launch of an investiga-
tion into “whether large tech
companies have engaged
in anticompetitive behav-
ior that stifl ed competition,
restricted access and harmed
consumers,” an advisory
from Texas Attorney Gen-
eral Ken Paxton said Friday.
The Washington Post and
The Wall Street Journal, cit-
ing sources they didn’t iden-
tify, have reported that target
will be Google.
Both groups of state attor-
neys general include Demo-
crats and Republicans. Join-
ing James in the Facebook
investigation are the attor-
neys general of Colorado,
Florida, Iowa, Nebraska,
North Carolina, Ohio, Ten-
nessee and the District of
Columbia.
With some 2.4 billion
users around the globe and a
huge social media presence,
Facebook has sparked out-
rage with a series of privacy
scandals and its use by Rus-
sian operatives in the 2016
presidential campaign.
“Even the largest social
media platform in the world
must follow the law and
respect consumers,” James
said.
She said the probe would
seek to determine if Face-
book endangered consumer
data, reduced the qual-
ity of consumer choices
or increased the price of
advertising.
The U.S. Justice Depart-
ment opened a sweeping
antitrust investigation of big
tech companies this sum-
mer, looking at whether
their online platforms have
hurt competition, sup-
pressed innovation or oth-
erwise harmed consumers.
The Federal Trade Commis-
sion has been conducting its
own competition probe of
Big Tech, as has the House
Judiciary subcommittee on
antitrust.
The lawmaker leading
that investigation, U.S. Rep.
David Cicilline, D-R.I., said
Friday the states’ probe of
Facebook is “completely
appropriate.”
“Facebook has proven
time and time again that it
cannot be trusted to regulate
itself,” Cicilline said.
The states have the power
to make big changes to the
tech industry — especially
if enough of them band
together, said Matt Stoller,
a fellow at the Open Mar-
kets Institute, a group that
advocates for the breakup
of corporate monopolies.
Though states have limited
jurisdictions, he said, once a
few of the bigger states get
involved, changes can come
that can affect most of the
country.
“You really have to break
their power, and I think the
states are more likely to
do that than anyone else,”
Stoller said in an interview.
Facebook said it plans
to “work constructively”
with the state attorneys gen-
eral and welcomes a con-
versation with policymakers
about competition.
“People have multiple
choices for every one of the
services we provide,” said
Will Castleberry, a vice pres-
ident of state and local pol-
icy. “We understand that if
we stop innovating, people
can easily leave our plat-
form. This underscores the
competition we face, not
only in the U.S. but around
the globe.”
Google issued a state-
ment that didn’t comment
directly on the antitrust con-
cerns but said its services
“help people every day, cre-
ate more choice for consum-
ers, and support thousands
of jobs and small businesses
across the country.”
“We continue to work
constructively with regu-
lators, including attorneys
general, in answering ques-
tions about our business and
the dynamic technology sec-
tor,” Google’s statement
said.
Big Tech won’t be an
easy target. Current interpre-
tations of U.S. law against
monopolies don’t obviously
apply to companies offering
inexpensive goods or free
online services.
Traditional antitrust law
focuses on dominant busi-
nesses that harm consum-
ers, typically through prac-
tices that raise prices for
consumers. But many tech
companies offer free prod-
ucts that are paid for by a
largely invisible trade in the
personal data gleaned from
those services. Others like
Amazon offer consistently
low prices on a wide array of
merchandise.
AP writer Matt O’Brien
reported from Providence,
Rhode Island. Associated
Press writers Kiley Arm-
strong and Tali Arbel in New
York and Rachel Lerman in
San Francisco contributed
to this report.
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