Google Inc said on Friday that Texas Attorney General’s Office is conducting an antitrust review of of its search and advertising practices in the US.
Google said that Texas had asked it about shopping comparison Websites Foundem and myTriggers, and e-commerce site catering to businesses SourceTools, all three of whom have ties to Microsoft.
Don Harrison, Google’s Deputy General Counsel wrote in a blog post, “given that not every website can be at the top of the results, or even appear on the first page of our results, it’s unsurprising that some less relevant, lower quality websites will be unhappy with their ranking.”
Industry analysts expect Google to continue to attract broader and deeper antitrust scrutiny as it dominates the Web search business and expands into new areas.
MyTriggers and SourceTools have said Google denigrates their ad placement on its search engine, causing the companies to lose money. Both companies hired Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft, which has done antitrust work for Microsoft.
Google says its closely guarded search formula strives to recommend websites that are most likely to satisfy the needs of each user’s request.