Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL) Google is facing a new antitrust investigation that has been launched by the State of California.
In a report by Politico on July 9, California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra decided to pursue an investigation after repeatedly choosing not to pursue the tech giant after being pressed to do so in light of other state investigations into Google that were launched last year.
California Attorney General’s Office Spokesperson Sarah Lovenheim said to Gizmodo, on July 10, “To protect the integrity of our work, it’s our practice not to comment on any pending or potential investigation, even to confirm or deny their existence.” Google also would not comment on the investigation.
Shares in Google were up 1% at market close on Friday at $1,539.01 per share.
California’s choice to withhold investigations on Google is noteworthy because the state is known for having a large staff of antitrust investigators and by comparison to other states, and Google is in relatively close proximity with its headquarters in Mountain View, California.
In September of last year, attorney generals from 50 states and territories announced they were all launching antitrust investigations into Google. At a press conference before the U.S. Supreme Court, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton from Texas said that Google “dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet.”
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