The knives are out for Google. The Financial Times reports that attorneys-general in California, New York and Ohio have begun anti-trust investigations. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that US Federal regulators are launching an investigation into whether Google abused its dominance in Web-search advertising. What makes it more complicated is that Google's Chief Executive Officer Larry Page and Chairman Eric Schmidt don't want to appear before a Senate panel.
This case has echoes of the anti-trust investigations into Microsoft a decade ago. Microsoft was forced to settle. The key issue here is whether Google is using its market power in search to push consumers to its own services like, for example, Google Places.
Proving that is going to be difficult but if it does happen, it might suggest that Google's power has peaked. Microsoft started going downhill after it settled with the Department of Justice. The same could happen to Google.
Significantly, this comes at a time when the power of Facebook is growing. There was a time when Google emerged as the big threat to Microsoft. Facebook is now doing the same thing to Google and the US government actions might speed that up.
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