Missouri鈥檚 attorney general is trying to find out if Google has violated the state鈥檚 antitrust and consumer protection laws.
Attorney General Josh Hawley announced Monday that he is issuing a subpoena to the tech giant. Among other things, the Republican official wants to see how the tech giant is gathering personal information from users. According to a news release, he also wants to know if Google is manipulating its search algorithm to 鈥減reference websites owned by Google and to demote websites that compete with Google.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;
Hawley said it鈥檚 important to find out how Google handles sensitive information 鈥� especially after large companies like Equifax recently suffered massive data breaches.
鈥淲hether that鈥檚 the Google search engine, Google mail, Google flights, Google shopping 鈥� Google is ubiquitous,鈥� Hawley said in an interview with 漏 2024 外网天堂. 鈥淭heir market power is absolutely enormous. And of course, the data it collects is vast ... and affects millions of Missourians.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;
In a statement, Google spokesman Patrick Lenihan said that his company has not yet received Hawley鈥檚 subpoena.
"However, we have strong privacy protections in place for our users and continue to operate in a highly competitive and dynamic environment,鈥� Lenihan said.
If Google doesn鈥檛 respond to his office鈥檚 subpoena, Hawley said he is willing to take the company to court. He said a similar situation unfolded when he tried to get information from Backpage.com, which led to a 鈥渕ajor court battle鈥� with the company.
鈥淭his is not a 鈥楧ear Google鈥� letter,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is a legally-binding demand that they have an obligation to comply with.鈥�
Follow Jason on Twitter: @jrosenbaum
