Google’s interactions with federal regulators

Topics: From the Wires,

Google has had several interactions with U.S. regulators in recent years. In the latest case, Google has settled a U.S. government probe into its business practices without making any major concessions on how the company runs its Internet search engine.

Here are some of Google’s interactions with U.S. regulators over the years:

— December 2007 — The Federal Trade Commission approves Google’s $3.2 billion purchase of Internet ad company DoubleClick, concluding after a nearly yearlong review that it won’t significantly reduce competition in online advertising. The FTC did not impose conditions. Google closed the deal three months later after getting EU regulatory approval.

— November 2008 — Google abandons a proposed Internet advertising partnership with Yahoo after the Justice Department said it would sue to block it to preserve competition in Internet advertising. Attorneys general from 15 states and Canada’s antitrust regulators had also loomed as potential adversaries.

— May 2010 — The FTC clears Google’s $681 million acquisition of mobile ad service AdMob after a six-month antitrust investigation. The commission said it unanimously decided to approve the deal mainly because Apple’s recent push into the market eased concerns that Google would be able to extend its dominance into the nascent field of wireless devices. The FTC imposed no conditions.

— March 2011 — Google agreed to adopt a comprehensive privacy program to settle federal charges that it deceived users and violated its own privacy policy when it launched a social networking service called Buzz. The settlement with the FTC requires Google to study existing and new services to determine if they pose risks to user privacy. Google has to develop policies to address any risks. The settlement mandates independent audits to oversee and verify Google’s privacy program every other year for the next 20 years. Google signed the deal in October.

— April 2011 — Justice Department clears Google’s $676 million purchase of airline fare tracker ITA Software. However, it imposes significant conditions, including a requirement for Google to license the technology to other companies on reasonable terms until 2016. The government also will monitor Google to ensure it does not engage in anticompetitive behavior.

— June 2011 — Google confirms that the Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether the company has been abusing its dominance of Internet search and advertising to stifle competition as it expands into other lucrative online markets, such as mapping, comparison shopping and travel. Rivals complain that Google manipulates its results to steer users to its own sites and services and bury links to competitors. Google insists it is giving people the best recommendations, including those of Google products.

— August 2011 — Google agrees to pay $500 million to settle a U.S. government investigation into the Internet search leader’s distribution of online ads from Canadian pharmacies illegally selling prescription and non-prescription drugs to American consumers. The settlement allows Google to avoid criminal charges. Google had disclosed earlier that it had set aside that amount to cover a potential settlement, though the company provided few details then.

— February 2012 — U.S. Department of Justice clears Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. hours after European officials approved it. Google waits another three months for approval in China.

— April 2012 — The Federal Communications Commission fines Google $25,000, saying the online search leader “deliberately impeded and delayed” an investigation into how it collected data while taking photos for its “Street View” mapping feature. Google disputes the FCC’s characterization of the probe and says the FCC was the party that took its time. Google says it accepted the fine to close the case.

Separately, the FTC signals that its year-old probe is deepening by hiring an outside lawyer, former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor Beth Wilkinson, to dig deeper into Google’s business practices. The FTC stresses the Wilkinson’s hiring should not be interpreted as a sign that it intends to crack down on Google.

— August 2012 — The FTC announces that Google has agreed to pay a $22.5 million fine to settle allegations that it broke a privacy promise by secretly tracking the online activities of millions of people who use Apple’s Safari web browser. It’s the largest penalty ever imposed by the FTC. Google isn’t admitting any wrongdoing. The fine isn’t over Google’s data collection, but for misrepresenting what was happening, in violation of last year’s agreement to settle the Buzz case.

— January 2013 — Google settles the antitrust probe with the FTC without major concessions to its search formula. Google agrees to license on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms” hundreds of patents deemed essential to the operations of mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops and video game consoles. It also promises to exclude, upon request, snippets copied from other websites in capsules of key information shown in response to search requests. But Google prevails in the pivotal part of the investigation, which delved into complaints it has been highlighting its own services in search results while burying links to competing sites.

Next Article

Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Comments

0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>