Google Faces FTC Antitrust Investigation

The Federal Trade Commission will send Google subpoenas this week as it begins an antitrust probe into the search king. Officials are investigating whether the firm has taken unfair advantage of its leading position in the tech landscape. It’s the weightiest US investigation the company has thus faced: While others have focused on Google mergers and acquisitions, the FTC will examine concerns surrounding Google’s central venture—its search advertising, reports the Wall Street Journal.

With Google the engine for some two-thirds of American internet searches, the FTC will look into complaints that the firm improperly points users to its own services; Expedia and Yelp are among its critics. Officials have been meeting with Google lawyers for months over the case, which could take more than a year. The probe could set an antitrust precedent as important as the Justice department’s 1990s suit against Microsoft, the Journal notes. (More Google stories.)