SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. regulators will continue to monitor Google Inc.’s business practices and may yet follow the European Union’s lead by launching an antitrust investigation, a Federal Trade Commission official said Wednesday.
“You may well see something soon from the U.S. agencies, but I can’t promise anything,” said Melanie Sabo, assistant director for Anticompetitive Practices at the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.
Speaking at a consumer-watchdog conference, Sabo said her comments reflect her own views and not those of the FTC. The conference, held in Washington, D.C., was webcast.
Sabo made her comments a day after the EU’s antitrust authority began a formal investigation of Google that focuses on its core search and advertising businesses. The EU investigation will look at whether Google manipulates search results to disfavor providers of Web services that Google competes with, such as price-comparison tools.
European regulators are also investigating allegations that Google restricts the advertisements that can be displayed by website operators that use some of its services.
Sabo said the fact that European regulators had announced a Google investigation before their U.S. counterparts was not extraordinary or unusual. For example, she noted that Europe moved first in launching its antitrust case against chip giant Intel Corp.
