FILE PHOTO: An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department is preparing an anti-trust investigation of Alphabet Inc’s Google, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing sources.
The probe is expected to examine Google practices linked to search and other businesses, according to the report, which also said the Federal Trade Commission had investigated Google many years ago but will defer to the DOJ this time.
Google and the Justice Department did not respond to requests by Reuters for comment on Friday.
In 2013, the FTC ended an investigatihere of Google, concluding that the company had not manipulated its search results to hurt rivals.
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Third-party critics of Google have been in discussions with the Justice Department, but it was not clear if the department has contacted Google, the Journal reported. The DOJ’s antitrust division has laid the groundwork for the investigation in recent weeks, the WSJ report said.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler