Google is refusing to hand over employees’ emails and text messages to state authorities investigating the tech giant’s potential anti-competitive practices, a new report says.
Investigators for a group of state attorneys general have asked for emails and other records from Google honchos, as well as text and instant messages from other staffers who could have relevant information, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
But Google has pushed back against the efforts to get the documents and expressed concerns that sensitive information could land in the hands of competitors with links to consultants involved in the probe, according to the paper.
Google also has not given the AGs permission to access records the US Department of Justice has gotten related to its own antitrust probe of the company, the Journal reported. The feds and the attorneys general have reportedly started meeting about their respective probes, which focus on Google’s dominance in the online advertising market and other matters.
Texas AG Ken Paxton, who’s leading the state investigation, told the Journal that Google’s efforts to keep documents under wraps suggest that they may contain damning information.
“Every indication right now is they don’t believe that they’re clean because they don’t act in any way like they are,” Paxton told the paper.
A Google spokeswoman said the company has already provided Texas with more than 100,000 pages of information that the state requested. Discussions about the scope of document requests are a standard part of any investigation, and they were important in this case because Texas asked many questions about Google’s business, the company said.
“We have a strong track record of constructive cooperation with regulators around the world,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement. “But we’re also concerned with the irregular way this investigation is proceeding, including unusual arrangements with advisers who work with our competitors and vocal complainants.”
Google pointed to Paxton’s office hiring consultants who have previously worked for companies that compete with or have publicly criticized Google.
The search giant specifically called out Cristina Caffarra of Charles River Associates, who Google said has represented the Russian internet services company Yandex and News Corp., which has urged regulators to take action against Google. (News Corp. owns The Post.)
Officials in Texas contend that the state’s confidentiality protections already address Google’s worries about the possible disclosure of its sensitive information, according to the Journal.