Google Inc’s methods for recommending Web sites are being reviewed by the US state of Texas’ attorney general in an investigation spurred by complaints that the company has abused its power as the Internet’s dominant search engine.
The antitrust inquiry disclosed by Google late on Friday is just the latest sign of the intensifying scrutiny that is facing the company as it enters its corporate adolescence.
A spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott confirmed the investigation, but declined further comment.
The review appears to be focused on whether Google is manipulating its search results to stifle competition.
The pecking order of those results can make or break Web sites because Google’s search engine processes about two-thirds of the search requests in the US and handles even more volume in some parts of the world.
That dominance means a Web site ranking high on the first page of Google’s results will likely attract more traffic and generate more revenue, either from ads or merchandise sales.
European regulators already have been investigating complaints alleging that Google has been favoring its own services in its results instead of rival Web sites.
Several lawsuits filed in the US also have alleged Google’s search formula is biased. Google believes Abbott is the first state attorney general to open an antitrust review into the issue.
“We look forward to answering [Abbott’s] questions because we’re confident that Google operates in the best interests of our users,” Don Harrison, Google’s deputy-general counsel, wrote in a blog post on Friday.
Harrison said that Abbott has asked Google for information about several companies, including: Foundem, an online shopping comparison site in Britain; SourceTool, which runs an e-commerce site catering to businesses; and MyTriggers, another shopping comparison site.
Regulators and lawmakers in the US and Europe also have been looking into Google’s privacy practices and its acquisitions as the company tries to fortify its power. A court document filed on Friday showed that the company has settled a lawsuit accusing it of privacy violations in connection with its Buzz social networking service.
The settlement filing comes on the same day Google said it would simplify and update its privacy policies, associate-general counsel Mike Yang said on the company’s Web site.
Launched in February, Buzz initially used an individual’s e-mail contacts from Google Gmail to build a social network of Buzz contacts that the rest of the world could see, which led to privacy concerns.
Google then changed the settings so that contacts were kept private by default.
To settle the lawsuit brought by a Gmail user, Google will set aside US$8.5 million for attorneys fees and donations to organizations focused on Internet privacy, the court filing said.
In addition, “the settlement requires that Google undertake wider public education about the privacy aspects of Buzz,” the filing showed.
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