US authorities are said to be considering a competition investigation into Google's dominance of internet searches in America. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), one of the two arms of government responsible for regulating competition, is considering a broad investigation, according to Bloomberg. Any decision by the FTC reportedly won't be made until the Department of Justice has decided whether to officially challenge Google's planned takeover of ITA Software, which develops software used in online travel bookings.
The possibility of an investigation by authorities in Washington DC comes less than a week after Microsoft added its name to a list of complaints already made by smaller companies in Europe and currently being considered by regulators there. Speculation about an incvestigation has grown since Thomas Rosch, one of the FTC's five commissioners, said last month that he backed a look at the internet search business in the US.
"It's very hard to go through a day without using Google," said Colin Ellis, an analyst at BGC Partners in New York. "Google is in the regulatory cross-hairs right now." A spokesman for the FTC declined to comment.
If the FTC decides to investigate, their focus is likely to be how Google generates its search results. Microsoft, which is trying to grow a competing search engine known as Bing, alleged last week that Google damages the ability of users to find YouTube videos through Bing.
"Since competition is one click away on the Internet, we work hard to put our users' interests first," a spokesman for Google said. "We built Google for consumers, not websites." (read more)
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