Google could face federal, state antitrust suits next week, reports say

Attorneys from the Department of Justice are meeting today with attorneys general from several different states about imminent plans to file an antitrust suit against Google, The Washington Post and Bloomberg report.

Google was widely assumed to be one of the targets, and the company confirmed last September that it was indeed under investigation.

Several media outlets this month have reported that US Attorney General William Barr wants to get an antitrust case against Google filed perhaps as soon as this month, despite some pushback inside the DOJ's Antitrust Division. As with every other government decision in 2020, the factions appear to have a partisan split; Democrats want to act more slowly and build a more comprehensive case, while Republicans, including Barr, favor quicker actionperhaps to generate positive headlines in the six weeks until Election Day.

The DOJ's probe has reportedly come to focus on Google's search operations, while the states' investigation is said to be focused on Google's advertising businesses.

Google is also facing several other competition probes in addition to the DOJ and state investigations, both domestically and abroad. The Senate Judiciary Committee also grilled Google executive Don Harrisonlast week about the company's advertising business.