Almost every state in the U.S has agreed to launch an antitrust investigation into Google

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Whelp, it’s official. The unprecedented antitrust investigation into Google’s business practices has been announced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last night.

The thrust of the inquiry is into Google‘s “potential monopolistic behavior” with regards to the search giant’s omnipresence in the digital advertising market.

50 U.S. states including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico just launched an antitrust investigation into Google

When the investigation was announced, Paxton was very clear that this is to “determine the facts,” which could mean subsequent investigations to determine any punishment, if warranted. We might not hear any news for a while on the outcomes of this investigation, as anything of this scale can take years to play out.

• Alphabet, Google’s parent company, earned 84 percent of its revenue last quarter from advertising
• Google has a stranglehold on advertising in Google Search, and across most of the internet
• When Microsoft was broken up under similar antitrust proceedings, ironically it paved the way for Google to innovate, bringing us Google Search and Android.

It seems it really is time for the government to do something about the so-called “Big Tech” companies. New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James, announced a similar antitrust investigation into Facebook last week.

Whether these investigations actually do anything to slow the power these companies wield is another matter entirely. For now, it’s just good to know that power left unchecked for so long is finally getting some balancing.

What do you think? Glad to see Google and other tech companies being checked? What do you think the antitrust investigation will find? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.