Antitrust Regulators Eye Google
Amid scrutiny by federal antitrust regulators, Google is funneling more money than ever into lobbying efforts. According to a report by NPR, Google spent $2.06 million to influence lawmakers between April- June 2011, a 54 percent increase from the same period last year.
Last month the Federal Trade Commission opened an inquiry into Google.
The behemoth has been investigated before, mostly due to its mergers and acquisitions, but the new civil probe will examine its search-advertising business.
According to the Wall Street Journal, it will specifically look into “whether Google searches unfairly steer users to the company’s own growing network of services at the expense of rival providers.”
Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman is set to appear before a Senate antitrust committee in September.
