Google accused of withholding antitrust evidence

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 22 Jun 2012 at 11:18

The Texas attorney general has accused Google of withholding documents in antitrust legal proceedings investigating whether the company treats other companies fairly in its search results.

In a court filing, Greg Abbott said he wanted access to more than 14,500 documents that had been officially requested by the legal team on the case, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Abbott said Google was withholding the documents, and sought a court order to force the company to hand over the emails and other communications that he felt would give more insight into the company’s workings.

Texas is one of six US states investigating whether Google manipulates its search results to stifle competition. The EU is mounting a similar investigation.

Google, however, said it was cooperating with the investigation and had already submitted a significant number of documents.

"We have shared hundreds of thousands of documents with the Texas Attorney General, and we are happy to answer any questions that regulators have about our business," Google said in a statement sent to the Associated Press.