Google Android becomes part of antitrust investigation

Google's anti-trust investigation is getting bigger by the day. It has now been expanded to include the company's biggest and most popular business, the Android operating system.

CNBC reported on Thursday that Android and search businesses are now under the probe, which is being conducted by Attorney Generals from all 50 states of the USA. Until now, this investigation has been focussed on Google's advertising business.

Google has grown as a search giant rapidly, it has bought out or forced the competition to shut down.

The anti-trust investigation is happening at a time when the US Presidential election 2020 is on the horizon. Both Democrats and Republicans have used the Silicon Valley as a campaign issue. Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren has gone so far as to call for the breakup of big tech companies such as Google, Amazon and Facebook.

Subpoenas may soon be issued to look into Google's anti-trust policies. Investigations regarding search and Android will be done separately.

The fact that it is the states and not the federal agencies investigating Google shows that it is under immense scrutiny. States are not beholden to the issues that federal agencies are beholden to - lobbying and political forces. However, states don't have comparable resources to federal authorities. To resolve this, the states have resolved to share resources regarding the investigation.

Google's policy of keeping it's software open source may be one of its saving graces and defence when it comes to anti-trust allegations. However, even more than Android, it is the company's search business, which may be a bone of contention, as it has grown unopposed and has the power to influence many national issues for the US.

Prior investigations into the company's search business found that it had skewed results in its own favour.

Google, according to CNBC, is worried that information revealed in the investigation, may be used by rivals, such as Microsoft.