Antitrust probe into Google's advertising practices opened by 48 US states

The investigation will focus on Google's dominance of digital advertising but may extend to other areas

Attorneys general from 48 US states are to open an antitrust probe into Google to investigate whether its advertising practices violate current laws.

According to Bloomberg, the investigation will be led by Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton. It will include attorneys general from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Alabama and California will not be involved in the probe.

The announcement confirms last week's reports about the bipartisan antitrust probe into Google's advertising practices.

The latest investigation will focus on Google's dominance and control of digital advertising industry. The probe could be extended later to include some of Google's other businesses, as hinted by some members of the group.

"This is a company that dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet," Paxton said at the press conference held outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC.

"It's an investigation to determine the facts. Right now it's about advertising, but the facts will lead where they lead," Paxton added.

According to Paxton, the group is concerned over complaints that Google is increasing costs for advertisers and that the internet users are probably not getting the best information from Google's search results.

Among those who have recently criticised the way Google search results are displayed is Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp - an online workplace project management service.

Last week, Fried explained how someone searching for Basecamp on Google is presented with first several results, which are basically ads paid for by Basecamp rival firms.

"When there is no longer a free market or competition, this increases prices, even when something is marketed as free, and harms consumers," said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican.

Google has been sent a demand for information. On Friday, the company said it had sent detailed information regarding its previous antitrust probes to the Department of Justice (DoJ). Google expects similar queries from state attorneys general.

According to eMarketer, Google is currently the undisputed leader in digital advertising in the US, accounting for more than 37 per cent of the market share.

It is followed by Facebook that has more than 22 per cent of the advertising market share. The e-commerce giant Amazon owns about 9 per cent of the US advertising market.

In recent months, the government agencies in the country have intensified their scrutiny of the technology industry as a whole.

In July, the DoJ announced an antitrust investigation into major online platforms to determine whether they are unlawfully killing competition in the industry.

Just last week, a group of states also announced that they were opening an investigation of possible antitrust violations by Facebook.

Regulators in the US have looked into Google's activities before and determined that the company was not engaged in anticompetitive behaviour. In 2013, the FTC, following a two-year investigation, ruled that Google hadn't broken any law in the country. However, the company has been penalised on multiple occasions by the European regulators for its anticompetitive behaviour.

Last year, Google was fined a record €4.3 billion by the European Union over claims of anti-competitive practices with the Android operating system.