Google’s Data Hoarding May Inhibit Rival Access, Texas AG Says (1)

Alphabet Inc.‘s Google may be blocking competitors from gaining access to critical user data needed to effectively compete in the digital advertising industry, which could violate antitrust laws, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said.

“In the digital advertising context, targeted advertising by definition requires access to user data,” he said Wednesday during an American Bar Association antitrust conference. Paxton is leading a multistate investigation into Google.

“Competitors that hope to compete against Google in digital advertising may not be able to do so if Google maintains a strategic bottleneck to access to critical user data,” Paxton said, speaking ...