The inadvertent release of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report tied to a decision by the agency in 2012 not to sue search giant Google over alleged antitrust behavior is spurring the federal agency to denounce media reports regarding the lawsuit decision and stipulate the agency did not ignore a staff report supporting legal action against Google.
The FTC says its decision not to sue Google regarding its search practices was supported by the agency's Bureau of Competition, Bureau of Economics and Office of General Counsel.
"Some of the FTC's staff attorneys on the search investigation raised concerns about several other Google practices," stated FTC commissioners. "In response, the Commission obtained commitments from Google regarding certain of those practices. Over the last two years, Google has abided by those commitments."
The FTC is reacting to a Wall Street Journal article regarding the internal report recommendation to sue Google over alleged anticompetitive activities, including not allowing advertisers from publishing campaigns on rival sites and scraping content from other sites.
The FTC did not sue Google but the two came to an agreement that changed some pf Google business practices, according to the agency. The public revelation of the internal report is igniting a firestorm of response from the FTC. The agency said the report should not have been released to the WSJ with other documents the newspaper had requested under Freedom of Information requests.
Supporters of antitrust legal action against Google, however, say the leaked report reveals there is cause and reason to sue Google.
"The report confirms the ongoing consumer harm that FairSearch.org and other interested parties have long warned about, and debunks Google's repeated claim that the FTC found no evidence of wrongdoing or harm once and for all," stated Matt Reilly, a former FTC official. Reilly now represents FairSearch, an organization which is lobbying federal antitrust officials to act.
Meanwhile, Google is dealing with a similar scenario on the European front as EU regulators are concerned about Google business practices and potential antitrust activity.
Google, according to media reports, has not yet commented or responded to the internal report.
In reporting on the leaked FTC document, several media outlets are taking note of Google's move to step up its lobbyist strategy following the agreement with the FTC.
Last year, stated a report, Google spent $16.8 million on lobbyists, more than any other company except for Comcast, according to lobbying disclosures. The report also revealed employees of Google were among the top contributors during two of Barack Obama's presidential campaigns.
