Google will face an antitrust probe after fifty US states and territories announced they will examine “potential monopolistic behaviour”. Scrutiny of large tech companies from US congressional authorities and European regulators has mounted recently, with an investigation into Facebook’s dominance announced by two US states last week. Google’s online and advertising dominance is a point of focus as critics say the tech giant’s acquisition of advertising company DoubleClick in 2007 was pivotal to its success in the market. Jen King, director of privacy at Stanford’s Centre for Internet and Society said: “There’s definitely concern on the part of the advertisers themselves that Google wields way too much power in setting rates and favouring their own services over others.”

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