Two bipartisan groups of U.S. state attorneys general are set to launch separate antitrust investigations into tech giants Google LLC and Facebook Inc., The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.
A group led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, will reportedly announce the probe into Google on Sept. 9. The investigation will focus on the Alphabet Inc. unit's impact on digital ad markets, as well as potential consumer harms.
Google said it is working with the officials on the inquiries, a company spokesman told the Journal.
Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, leads a separate group organizing a probe into Facebook. State attorneys general within the group reportedly raised concerns about how big tech companies can be held accountable for the misuse of personal data.
A cybersecurity researcher recently discovered an exposed server online containing more than 419 million records linked to Facebook accounts of users in the U.S., the U.K. and Vietnam, among others.
Facebook is also being probed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over antitrust concerns. The commission has created a task force to monitor competition in U.S. technology markets.
