AMARILLO, TEXAS -- The Texas Attorney General's office has launched an antitrust investigation on Internet giant Google.
In documents released to Pronews 7 by the Attorney General's office dated July 29, 2010 the search engine is being investigated for "the possibility of monopolization in the market for Internet search advertising." The document also cites the relevant Texas laws. The document itself is a civil investigative demand.
In essence the Attorney General is asking that Google provide their office with documentation about how the search engine works, including information about how it determines search rankings, product searching, and information about the algorithms they use. A wide rage of information and documents have been requested in the 13-page demand. The CID gave Google until August of 2010 to respond.
A Wall Street Journal article on the investigation said that Google stated they would cooperate with the investigation, and that they had been questioned about complaints from several small companies complaints that their rankings were unfairly demoted.
